The Guardians - Season 3 - Legends of Ossyria
by Yoshumari Korisuno
Summary: It has been 18 years since the defeat of the Black Mage, and Ossyria has changed... a lot. No longer are there those willing to help others; its all about how much one person can get. But bubbling beneath the surface, is a new danger, bringing A new generation of Guardians, Former Enemies, and Ossyrian Legends to face a new foe, unlike any other.
1. Prologue

The Guardians: Legends of Ossyria

Prologue

_Empress Cygnus, June 8, 2030_

_It's hard to believe that it's been just over 18 years since the defeat of the Black Mage. So many things that have changed that I hardly recognize Ossyria from what it once was. After the fall of The Black Mage, we all spent the next few months putting things back in order, reestablishing trade, and training those who had asked to become students. During the times in which students were fewer, the new Masters, The Guardians of Ossyria, would go with the Ereve Knights to seek out the small cells of Black Wings that still existed as well as my marriage to my most loyal of Chief Knights, Mihile. Another thing that merits mention, is the fact that Lillianne made a Life Binding pact with a small dragon from Oldesta named Talu: this small dragon almost reminds me of a cat. With fears of not living as long as the other Guardians looming over her because she did not possess a Crystal Power of her own, and the power of the Dark Crystal being too malicious for her to control, a Life Binding contract was the only viable option left to her._

_ However the peace that had come to Ossyria didn't last forever as we hoped it would. An enormous stash of enhancing scrolls from the Sharenien Empire had been found in one of the cell's bases. The Knights made sure that such power wouldn't be allowed into the public, keeping them within the vault on Ereve. That soon was broken into and all of the scrolls were stolen, after which weapons began coming onto the market endowing the user with phenomenal powers far beyond what they were normally capable of. And that led to an even worse problem, as the high ranked students would trick and steal weapons, armor, and attire to empower themselves only to turn around and sell it in the market for abhorrent amounts of coin or the exorbitant amounts of the rare herb Enix. _

_Two years later, the Rank 60 students began to find it increasingly difficult to purchase even a simple piece of armor or weapon to help them on their way to a higher degree. This left them resorting to using armor and clothes that are falling apart, using weapons that were 15, 20, even 30 ranks below them. of further concern of not only myself, but to The Guardians as well are new threats to the hardest training of students. _

_There are those who have sought out curses and spells that allow one to simply take everything away from anyone, anytime, anywhere and 90% of the time go unpunished for their deeds since even the most experienced of mages like Grendal or Helen have been unable to trace who the spell originated from. To counter this, The Knights, Nienhart and myself organized a branch of soldiers dedicated to helping those that had been the unfortunate targets of these thieves by lending them armor and coin until either their belongings were returned, or they are able to get back on their feet. _

_Though in recent weeks, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish who is really a victim, and who is just a petty beggar looking for an easier route to become powerful. Will the greed of the people never end? In addition, I can't help but feel that The Black Mage isn't truly gone, even when the account of The Guardians say that he is indeed dead. I just hope this feeling will subside since Ossyria was in his grip for so long_.

Sighing heavily, Cygnus looked over her journal entry and slid the pen back into the spine of the book, tucking it away in the small jewelry box Mihile had given her for their 2nd wedding anniversary. She smiled when she thought back to the days when everything seemed still so new and unknown once The Black Mage was no longer a factor when there was a soft knock on her door.

"Come in." she called, her face lighting up when she saw that it was Mihile who entered the room.

"Oh, Mihile; I didn't expect you back so early. How is everything?" She asked, getting up from the vanity and placing her hands on Mihile's chest plate, alighting his lips with a brief kiss.

"Our patrol hasn't been able to confirm what it is the Black Wings cells have been up to. Many of them are silent, while others speak as if The Mage is still alive." He said tiredly, pulling the cloak from his shoulders and loosening the bracers from around his arms.

"I would not doubt thy fears Mihile." Helen said as she and Olsen appeared on Cygnus's balcony.

"Lady Helen! Master Olsen! Have you been able to find anything?" Mihile asked, relaxing once he was sure of whom was speaking to. Olsen shook his head as he stepped off the railing then leaned against it.

"Not much beyond what Mihile has said. But what's strange is the sudden decline in their blatancy; it's almost as if they were told to lay low." He answered, making a somber mood descend on them all when Cygnus perked up and changed the subject.

"How is your son Latimer?" Olsen laughed, looking over to Helen who smiled in return.

"He's doing fine; Belle says that he's been training as hard as he can every day, passing up every other person in his class and becoming a Rank 200, Fourth Degree in a year." Olsen laughed, making all of them chuckle slightly.

"How are the others doing?" Mihile asked, setting his headdress on a small table and pulling the gauntlets from his hands.

"Matthew and Lillianne are as busy as ever, and their twin girls are just as ferocious as they were back then; they too have just recently become Rank 200, Fourth Degrees themselves. Jenny and Jack are busy working most of the time during the week; Jack has been on patrols in the Nautilus while Jenny is teaching the steady streams of students that come her way. Sometimes she has Patricia stay with one or the other during the week. But every weekend they all get together and just catch each other up on how they've been and what they're up to." Olsen said, breathing a big breath when he was all done.

"I am amazed Patricia hath become such a well mannered young woman for how dram time is spent as a family." Helen ruminated.

"From what I know, Jenny and Jack were actually together all the time for the first 7 years of her life until she decided that she wanted to learn from Deren as a Battle Mage. I hear she too has just joined the Rank 200, Fourth Degree mages." Mihile interjected when Eckhart appeared next to Olsen, his hair slightly longer but still wearing the mask he was known for.

"Empress, I'm ashamed to say it but…"

"She gave you the slip again didn't she?" Cygnus sighed as Eckhart lowered his head.

"Yes empress, I ashamed for have lost sight of her for the seventh time this month. Perhaps I should train more so as not to…"

"No no Eckhart, you have done well." Helen and Olsen were both lost, looking at each other and then to Cygnus and Mihile as if waiting for an explanation.

"You remember Ashura, my daughter right?"

"The princess? Aye, I remember when she was born. Pray tell, what hath betid?" Helen asked as Cygnus smirked and shook her head.

"The life of a 'fancy princess' as she says, doesn't seem to suit her and is constantly slipping out of Ereve on her own. She's just turned 15 and is testing the limits of her newly granted freedoms of walking around Ereve and Victoria. It seems that Princess Ashura doesn't want to have a chaperone." Cygnus laughed, looking to the disheveled Eckhart before walking to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I only wish that _she_ would understand that it's only for her own safety. She was supposed to get her dress fit again: she's been growing as if she were a bamboo shoot." Cyngus smiled until Olsen smirked and chuckled, catching her attention.

"You know where she is don't you?" Cygnus pressed as Olsen nodded his head.

"Actually I have a good idea. We'll be back in a while."

* * *

_"Dureau, would come here for a moment?" A woman's voice asked. With an eerily calm attitude, Dureau ran back into the house, folding his leathery wings so they wouldn't go numb from hitting the door while the woman he called mother held his baby brother Damian._

_"Yes mama?"_

_"Would you be a dear and look after your brother for me while I get some much needed chores finished?" she asked. Dureau agreed; watching over his baby brother and making sure that he was comfortable was somewhat amusing to him. Many years were spent like this, the three of them living in the southern most part of Leafre. It wasn't exactly a care free life, but they were all happy taking care of each other. Dureau's father had come to this world with him as an infant when his birth mother wanted to kill the new born for not being the female she wanted to be the next queen of the Khyune Realm. _

_Dureau's father had been fatally wounded as he tried to escape, only able to make it to the woman's doorstep before he died with Dureau in his arms. Ever since that day, he had been accepted as her son, despite her husband's disapproval. A few short years later, her husband could no longer accept their family once she had become pregnant with their son and disappeared. Even though times were hard for them, it was steadily getting harder as an unknown faction was slowly taking over Ossyria with a man called The Black Mage at its head. _

_"Mother, I've decided." The now late teen Dureau announced one day._

_"Decided what Dureau?"_

_"I've decided that I'm going to work for _them._ I don't want you and Damian to have such a hard life." Dureau's mother stood from her place at the table where she was sewing a patch on an old sweater and faced him fully._

_"Dureau, it's alright. As long as we can all stay together, we'll be fine." Damian said, walking up to him and wrapping his small arms around his leg as if begging him not to go._

_"Damian, Mother; I've talked to one of the men that work for him named Magnus, and he has said that all of the soldiers and disciples under The Mage are paid extremely well. With the money that you will have, you will want for nothing." His mother and Damian pleaded, begged even for him not to go, but he had made up his mind and there was not stopping him: he would make their lives better than they ever were. On the morning Dureau left for their headquarters, Damian handed him a locket containing a picture of him and their mother within it with bright smiles on their faces to always remember them by._

* * *

The loud sputter of gunfire filled the air as Dumia turned, holding up her arms and reducing the training dummies to splinters, spinning around to her rear and holding both arms straight out firing both fists of her mech forward then using the momentary lull before the hands started to retract to swing them behind her again and take out the targets that had sprung up.

"HEY! Watch where you're swinging those things! You nearly pegged me!" a voice shouted, making Dumia look down to her H.U.D. radar and see three green dots standing around her, retracting the canopy of her mech.

"Sorry Pat! But it's you that needs to watch where you're going. I'm in a ten ton machine remember, and I have blind spots everywhere." Dumia shouted. She was Matthew and Lilliannne's oldest daughter and was a stout tomboy of sorts, always tinkering with machines ever since she was old enough to hold a screwdriver. Her wavy hair was dyed a bright fire blue, even though it was naturally a light pastel pink with dark reddish brown eyes.

"Being in a ten ton machine is exactly why you need to be more careful Dumia!" Vondra, Dumia's twin sister shouted, sheathing the sharp daggers on her hip. Vondra had taken after her mother Lillianne with long white hair tied back in a thin ponytail that reached to her hips, despite being tied towards the top of her head. She might have taken on her mother's facial features, but inherited a slightly curvier figure than Lillianne. This was further extenuated by the body hugging Avenger body suit she wore, looking closer to a one piece bathing suit rather than armor.

"You're one to talk Vondra; do you even pay attention to where you're swinging those things most of the time?" Latimer asked, jumping from the back of his pet panther Blaze as he came running in. Latimer was the only son of Olsen and Helen, standing slightly taller than average with short, thick, cascading black hair peeking out from under his hat. He was a bit shy, mostly because anywhere he went there was at least one woman coming up to him out of the blue and starting up a conversation. Vondra swore that it was because he had his mother Helen's violet eyes and slightly feminine facial features.

"Come now Latimer, you fired a couple arrows that almost hit me a couple times." Patricia laughed, spinning her new battle mace wand through her fingers. The daughter of Jack and Jenny, it was somewhat surprising that she didn't become as much a tomboy as Dumia, but was still fairly strong which was shown through her defined arms and core. Her appearance showed her heritage the least, having a slightly round face, long, straight brown hair and soft, unguarded blue eyes dressed in her favorite Blue Fairy dress.

"It was your fault for being there in the first place. You know that target range is mine." Latimer interjected.

"Yes, but it's my turn to use the grounds for practice with Syl!" Vondra cut in.

"You're both wrong! It's my turn to use the target range! My targeting system needs a recalibration after I replaced the guns!" Dumia shouted, the body of her mech moving with hers.

"So if you all have it then when will I get a turn? I just got this wand and need to practice with it!" Patricia whined, adding to the multitude of voices that built to a shouting match until the cannon-like shot from Jack made them all fall silent and turn to face where the noise had come from.

"There, that's better. Patricia, what have I told you about whining?" Jack asked sternly as she looked away for a moment a bit embarrassed.

"That's beside the point. Have any of you seen Ashura? She went missing again from under Eckhart's nose." Olsen cut in as the four of them turned to a line of trees sitting just behind Athena's house where Jenny now resided in Henesys.

"Ashura!" they all called, hearing an audible sigh as the dark haired, teenage princess jumped down from the branch she had been sitting on and walked over to them.

"Yes, yes I know Olsen, my mother is looking for me. Why does she always want me just when I'm able to go out and have some fun for once? I'd like to get out and… well, just get out!" she huffed as Olsen and Jack both chuckled.

"Your mother asked me to find you because your address to the people of Ossyria is in a couple weeks and she wanted to have your dress fit." Olsen explained. Ashura grunted loudly and hung her arms down.

"Again? This is the fifth time I've had to put that thing on: how many more times do I need to do this?" she complained, walking with Jack and Olsen as they boarded the Nautilus.

"Probably until the day before the address; you've hit a pretty big growth spurt in the last few weeks you know." Jack laughed, taking a seat just in front of the helm.

"I know, but it's really uncomfortable. Can't Helen just use her magic to put it on me and alter it at the same time on that day?"

"If one can forgo the lay-to of magic, so wilt it be. Magic is not a solve all; 'tis to be used with discernment. Thou shouldst wot of this Ashura: hast mine lessons fallen on deaf ears?" Helen asked making Ashura jump and then chuckle, mostly out of embarrassment of forgetting what Helen had taught her.

"No they haven't."

"Very well. Thou art nearly ready; thy final test begins on the morrow."

"Really?! Were you able to find a willing Dragon?" Ashura exclaimed.

"Aye: Argaust of Oldesta hath sought out said dragon, and is bringing him hither to Ossyria in the morning. Shinsoo as well is quite excited for thy success." Helen smiled, watching Ashura skip around with joy.

"Alright! Now I'm all excited to wear that dress. I'll have to ask mother what it's like, having Shinsoo's power at her command."

"First you need to pass your final Ashura." Olsen scolded. She only stared back at him with a scowl but said nothing; now that Helen had deemed her ready, she was going to pass that test no matter what it took.

* * *

_His acceptance into the Black Wings wasn't as grand as he was lead to believe, but Magnus encouraged him and offered him missions that quickly caught the eye of the lead general at the time, Von Leon. Soon, Dureau was offered higher and higher risk missions that not even the most powerful of the Black Mage disciples would risk. This fast track he had been set on quickly earned him a very high pay, and was able to send a substantial amount back to his mother and brother. As the years passed and the armies of The Black Wings grew, Dureau was put in charge of a battalion of the iciest of disciples known as 'The Demon Squad'. _

_"Dureau; orders from the Black Mage himself. There is a high profile criminal of the Black Mage that has escaped, and the Demon Squad has been requested to retrieve her." Von Leon commanded._

_"You humans are so useless; what is her name?" Dureau asked uninterestedly, writing out a report for a past mission._

_"That is none of your concern." Leon then slammed his hand down on Dureau's report and looked him in the eye._

_"Magnus may not have been so strict about that attitude of yours, but I am not so forgiving."_

_"They why haven't you challenged me if you are so powerful, General." Dureau asked with a sneer, reaching for the mace next to his chair and hooking it onto his belt._

_"It's because he's worried that he might lose, aren't you Leon?" A child's voice asked playfully, leaning against the door frame of Dureau's room, looking at her finely shaped finger nail. Leon's eyes suddenly began to glow red as his shoulders broadened slightly while his hair became wild._

_"I will pretend that I didn't hear that Orca and not report it to the Master." he growled as Dureau took the long trench coat from the rack and swung it over his shoulders, pushing his wings through the slots in the back, and straightening the ruffles at his throat. Orca and Leon's constant bickering was something that Dureau hated, especially since it was always in his room. A dark plume of energy appeared next to them, revealing Dureau reaching out and picking the both of them up by the shirt collars._

_"Quit your juvenile bickering! Or I will report both of you to the master!" Dureau growled, the mark on the left side of his face glowing slightly before he put them down and walked out, grabbing the mission orders from Leon as he walked. Things like this excited him; the chase, the sound of his prey running for their life and the hurtling speed that he would be able to use in catching his target made him feel alive. _

_As he and his squad moved, he suddenly caught sight of something running through the trees in the Leafre Forest and told the rest of his squad to spread out, calling out a general description of what the runaway looked like after he had taken to the skies and dove in after her. Coming from the skies gave him quite a bit of speed, banking and rolling between the dense forest trees until he lost sight of the girl. He quickly reached for his mace, while the Ageis on his arm pulsed to life with a dark light, the large gem in the center of his mace humming with his power. He stood, listening to the silence, feeling out the area when he felt the girl's energy and disappeared in a plume of black and red energy, reappearing behind a bluish purple cat with small wings on its back. _

_He held up his mace ready to attack when the cat whirled around and hissed at him, claws extended and teeth bared as though it were ready to fight. Dureau couldn't explain what happened in that moment, but he felt sympathy for the cat once he realized that the cat and the girl he was after were one in the same. The terror filled light in her eyes spoke volumes to him as he lowered his mace, then turned and flew off in another direction after hearing the call of one of his soldiers._

_"What do you mean you weren't able to retrieve the prisoner?!" Leon demanded once Dureau had returned._

_"It is as I said, the prisoner evaded us; not even my Chaos Lock could sense her. She must have been running for so long that her energy was depleted substantially." Leon fumed and spit just like a cat, further proving his title 'The Lion of El Nath'. As Leon seethed, a tall, thin man walked into the room with a long white mustache and beard. _

_"And who might you be?" Leon asked, tilting his chin at the man who responded with a dry voice._

_"My name is Arkarium. I was told that I should report here as the newest of Generals." Orca scoffed as she filed on her nails, refining their shape until they were perfectly round._

_"I see. It appears that the Black Mage still doesn't have any trust in my abilities." Orca laughed as her twin brother Suu walked in, nodding to Leon and making his way to Orca who immediately stopped filing and put her arms around his neck._

_"You may have founded the Black Wings in order to follow our master Orca, but that doesn't mean you are by any means a General." Leon snapped, turning back to Dureau and shoving a finger into his face, growling in his throat._

_"You have been given a slight bit of grace Dureau. Find the escaped prisoner, or your actions will be reported as treason against our master." Leon growled, storming from his room._

_"What was that all about?" Orca asked with a smile in her voice, resting her head on Suu's shoulder, her only answer being a wave of Dureau's hand as he sat at his desk and wrote up another report._

* * *

"Are you feeling any better today Clytemnestra?" Arkarium wheezed as he came into the underground chamber, taking his cloak off and tossing it onto a rack somewhere in the dark. On the far side of the chamber hovered a young woman with platinum blond hair embraced by a large enchanted metal frame glowing with a discomforting blue light.

"I still have moments, but I am fine for the majority of the time." She replied coldly, opening her eyes and uncrossing her arms from over her chest, making the frame pull back and reveal her blue and gold strapless dress.

"Very well then. Here is another goblet of Eleanor's potion. I hope that it is at least as well done as hers." Arkarium said timidly, as Clytemnestra reached out her slender hand and took the cup, drinking the liquid inside, smiling once she had swallowed a mouthful.

"You have done well Arkarium." She purred, floating down to the ground and putting on a long, violet and gold over-dress, splitting at the top which rose slightly higher than her dress, revealing the blue one below.

"Hilla." Clytemnestra commanded, taking another drink of the potion and walking over to a stone vanity.

"Yes Master?" Hilla called, shifting her weight to one leg as she set her staff down.

"The princess will make her speech soon, and it is then that I want you to go and test them. If you are successful, all of Ereve will be yours to rule just as you did Azwan. All you need do is show them that you are the true heir to the throne, and the rest will come with ease." Clytemnestra said, setting the goblet down and staring at the crystal mirror in the vanity.

"Master Clytemnestra, how am I to do something like that? By simply walking into the palace which will no doubt be full of soldiers, trainees and knights? Not to mention The Guardians of Ossyria." Hilla found herself drug forward and held in place, as Clytemnestra held up a glittering red gem on a gold chain.

"You will show them this: the Skaia." She said flatly, setting Hilla down on her feet once again, tossing it to Hilla over her shoulder. Hilla's eyes became wide in disbelief as she caught it and turned it over in her hands, watching the light dance from in facets in the dull light.

"How did you get hold of this?! The Skaia was nowhere to be found when Aria was killed by the twins." Clytemnestra looked back over her shoulder, her eyes looking to glow a dull red.

"Unimportant details Hilla. You were only _recruited_. I was _created_ by…" Clytemnestra put a hand on her face, shutting her eyes tightly and grunting in pain for a few moments.

"Master? Are you…" Clytemnestra put up her hand to Hilla, stumbling back over to the frame and hovering back up into its metal embrace.

"Show then the Skaia before the Princess is to give her speech. That alone will prove that you are Aria's true heir and begin the road of destruction for all of Ossyria." Clytemnestra sneered, crossing her arms over her chest once again and leaning back against the frame.

"Shall I try to reactivate The Machinist in the castle to rebuild the Infinity Gauntlet Clytemnestra?" Arkarium asked, causing her to open her eyes and look down on his with distaste.

"That form was barely able to keep such power in control, and that body had become nothing more than a cloud of dark vapors. This body will in no way contain such power; it was only created to sustain the power stored here in this frame and to use this world's power. There is a reason that I have waited 18 years to begin."

"And why is that, Master Clytemnestra?" Magnus asked haughtily, making Clytemnestra simply smile alluringly and lean her head against the frame once again, closing her eyes.

"All will be revealed soon, Magnus. Hilla, be sure that you are ready." She said before the frame reached its arms around her and closed her off from the world. Hilla laughed to herself as she looked at the Skaia in her hand: she had originally been sent to Ereve on a 'peace' mission to get this very gem when Aria was Empress. But how did Clytemnestra get her hands on it? She was only 'conceived' a short time after The Mage's return, so how would she know of such a gem?

These were questions that she more than likely would never get an answer to and left the chamber, already rehearsing a speech in her head that would call into question everything that the people of Ossyria knew to be true. The Black Mage as a person may not be the one spear heading their operation as he had done in the past, but the outcome would still be the same: Ossyria would fall and be recreated as a world without hurt, without tears, without war.

* * *

**There are things in this part of the story that are bugging the bajeezuz outta me, so I'm going back through to fix them.**


	2. Chapter 1: Once More

Chapter 1: Once Again, From the Top.

_Once the spell had been cast, she struggled against its icy fingers that weaved throughout her body like a cancer. Every step became harder than the last as she trudged back to her small kingdom of Elluel where she, Mercedes, was queen of the Elvin People. With the final ounce of her strength she then erected a barrier sealing off Elluel from the rest of Ossyria, keeping the curse that stung her within the kingdom. Her final thoughts were those of her student, Athena Peirce, and of a close friend she had seen in the Temple of Time._

_"Why Orchid? What made you turn so dark against Ossyria?"_

Cracks began appearing in the ice as the sun finally broke through the odd clouds that had settled over Elluel when The Black Mage had cast his curse. With each passing second, the crack became larger, longer; reaching from the surface deep to the lone figure encased within it until it finally broke away, dropping her to the ground in a heap. To her it felt as if it had been a long sleep, picking herself up off the ground and brushing the small twigs and grass out of her long golden hair. When she raised her hands above her head to stretch, her elegantly toned biceps touched the chilled metal of her loop pauldrons, making her shudder and pull away from it.

"Ow! That's cold." She shouted as the sudden jump made her tassets touch her outer thigh which were just as could as her pauldrons. When she looked up, she almost didn't recognize where she was because of the dense growth of trees and grass that surrounded her sleeping chambers. The only thing that she _did_ recognize was the large tree that stood in the center of her palace that she always knew. But when she managed to finally push through the over grown plants that lined her palace, her lifted spirits were brought down when she saw the elders frozen where she had left them with peaceful expressions on their face.

"_The curse is still in effect? Was The Black Mage undefeated after all?_" She asked herself walking from the Elder's Chamber towards the small village that resided not too far away, dropping to her knees. The entirety of the village was still frozen, each person with a peaceful or frightened look on their faces as they seemed to watch the ice engulf them.

"_How is it that I am the only one that has broken free of the curse?_" With stunned wonder she walked through the village, coming to the music box she had started to ease the minds of her people before she herself had frozen over, finding that it was now in a horrid state of disrepair. She reached out her hand to touch it, but when she did the wood holding it together gave way, springs and rusted mechanical pieces flinging themselves into the air.

"_How could this have happened? Why am I the only one to have awakened? Does this mean that the Curse is finally weakening? No, I cannot second guess something of this significance; I must see what is happening in Ossyria for myself._" Without even the slightest bit of hesitation she ran back to her quarters, searching for the weapons that Minerva had given her, remembering that she had dropped them just as the ice was taking over her body. When she did finally find them under her bed they felt heavy, much heavier than she remembered. It took most of everything she had in one arm just to hold one up and aim down the sights, not to mention that she suddenly felt drained as the Spirit Arrow spheres on them activated. But she pushed the thought aside and ran for the front gate of Ellul hidden by a serine waterfall, skidding to a stop when she arrived.

"What?! _What happened to the Barrier? The anchors were supposed to last for at least 200 years._" She quickly looked around, finding the spots where she had placed the charms inside the elegant archway where nothing more than a black soot marks remained.

"_This can't be! The Seal gave way before the curse had broken?_ _And what of my weapons feeling so much heavier than they were?_" grabbing one of the bow guns, she took aim at a small boulder and pulled the trigger. The feeling that rushed out of her arm was almost painful as the Spirit Arrow sphere lit up and fired an arrow which only shattered into shards of light instead of obliterating the rock.

"How can this be! My power is that of an Order 10! _This… this is an outrage! Was this the doing of the Curse?! To weaken me?! Even having my power reduced to that of an Order 100 would be preposterous, but draining my power to that of an Order 10! I can barely support the arrows, let alone use any of the high level techniques I was taught by Minerva! No, this can't be, I must still be dreaming. Alright Mercedes, calm yourself; just breathe and wake up._" She breathed, closing her eyes and further calming herself until she felt as though she were going to fall asleep again. But as she opened her eyes, she was still standing before the threshold of her kingdom, still holding the heavy bow guns in her hands, and still as powerless as an Order 10. The sound that left her lips was almost comical, letting out a disappointed whine as if she were a youngling and not the esteemed Sovereign of the Elvin people.

"This can't be happening! How can this be happening to _me_? I'm not supposed to be this weak!" she whined, stamping her feet and pushing out her bottom lip until she remembered that the others may be waking up and quickly composed herself, looking around to make sure that no one heard her: it was the one indulgence that she never outgrew.

"_Alright, a review is in order: For one, all the elves of Ellul are still frozen, which must mean that the curse is still in effect. Second, I am the only one of my people to have awaked… Does this mean that the Black Mage's power has been weakened somehow? Third, I need to get outside of Ellul and find out what has happened to Ossyria. Oh, but I can't go out like this, not as an Order 10!_" She thought when a small breeze blew through the valley, making Mercedes' skin break out in goose flesh , the chill of the curse she had been under suddenly coming back.

"Oh my, that curse was something of frightful power; I still feel quite cold! Onora, could you please get my shawl?" Mercedes called, but when there was no answer she stamped back to her quarters, mumbling to herself how Onora was such a disobedient unicorn, even though the two of them practically grew up together. But then the memory came back of her beloved steed jumping in front of her and taking the skewering blow through her heart during the attack on the Temple of Time. The memory made her stop, closing her eyes and clenching her fists, trying as hard as she could to suppress the memory only to have it come back stronger.

"Onora…" Quickly drying her eyes, she then looked back to the gate, and sighed; the thought of Onora being killed suddenly didn't make her feel so cold. But what was she supposed to do to get around without her? Her meager Order meant that she was going to be destroyed by the Tree Slime outside, and she was barely able to hold up her Bow Guns.

"Well, I suppose it's back to the training grounds." She sighed.

"Oh, but those were in The Palace City Orbis, and without my strength or anyone to help me there is no way I'll be able to make it there on my own! Aw, I really don't want to resort to the youngling training grounds!" she whined, laughing at herself as she went to the grounds and looked around for something lighter to use, only finding elegant yet weathered bows with snapped sinews in storage.

"I suppose that I'll have to stick with these. Oh what a fine picture this makes: the Sovereign of Elves is reduced to training amongst the Younglings. At least no one is around to see." She sighed, looking down the range and holding her bows straight out, feeling their weight strain the muscles in her elbows.

"_Just bare with it Mercedes, you can do this!_"

* * *

_He had been known for his brash deeds, and for his love of things which were of high value, but none was more precious to him than that of the heart of the Empress Aria. He was known to the world of then as the Phantom Thief. With his heart broken, he went to fight the Black Mage and in his final hour, took flight of the temple in his ship, Lumiere. Just as the last anchor of the spell was placed, the backlash of the seal trying to be broken hurled him, his ship, and his crew into space, between time._

"Sir! Engine room reports the Induction Drive is losing stability, attitude control is failing and there is a hole burning through the hull near the Plasma Coil!" a well dressed young man quickly leapt from his seat and took control of the helm after the pilot had been thrown to the ground.

"Engine control, this is Phantom! On my mark shut the engines down and prepare for a Wild Cat Full Stop!" the radio crackled a fuzzed for a minute when a broken voice came back.

"_Di… say… Cat Full Stop?!_"

"Yes! That is affirmative!"

"_But… gines might… hold… do that!_"

"Would you rather find out what a critical mass plasma coil looks like melting down?! DO IT!" Phantom yelled, watching the gauges around him peg out and crack as the Lumiere shuddered, quickly accelerating out of control.

"_SIR… ready… here!_"

"INITIATE!" Instantly the lights within the ship died while the sound of the engines spinning down hummed below, the entire ship shuddering in protest. The sudden loss of power made everything surge forward towards the front of the bridge's view window even though they had braced themselves. But Phantom held on, fighting with the giant wheel to keep the Lumiere from veering anywhere when the bright streaks of light that surrounded them were suddenly gone and their abrupt deceleration continued while flames burst from around the front of the ship. Renault, the captain, finally awoke and pulled himself up with the aid of the control board.

"Very good sir! It seems that we are just coming over Leafre." He called over the roar of wind hurtling at them.

"It's not over yet! That just got us out of the temporal stream. We still need to restart the engines before we crash." Phantom yelled back using every ounce of strength that he had to fight the stubborn helm wanting to turn.

"Right then, Engine room; bring the engines back online."

"_No can do sir! The Plasma coil just burned up and the Induction Drive is ceased, we're going in hot!_" the voice from the com system yelled. Phantom growled as he struggled harder and harder against the helm, feeling as though all his strength was being drained out of him.

"Renault! Take the Helm!" he shouted, letting go of the great wheel and running over to the wires that led into the back of the control board, pulling out various wires and reconnecting them to the switches in a different order.

"Phantom! What are you doing!" Renault shouted through his teeth as he struggled against the helm.

"I installed a failsafe just in case something like this happened." Phantom yelled as he ran back around and began flipping switches on the control board almost as if it were a code.

"ALL HANDS! BRACE YOURSELF!" he shouted over the com, flipping the final switch. Various points of the hull pulled up as a loud roar thundered to life, making everyone on board slam onto the deck.

"What is that?!" Renault thundered as he struggled to stand, fighting off the pain of the goose egg on his head.

"Retro Rockets; I installed them just after the Lumiere was finished." Eagerly, the two of them watched as the ship slowed its decent, their breathing becoming harder as the ground came closer and closer, and still their speed was too fast.

"Phantom, if we don't do something soon…"

"I know, I know, it'll all be fine." Renault sighed hard, jutting his lower jaw out in frustration, but knowing that once Phantom had made his mind up that they would be alright, there was no arguing the point.

"Is there any way to increase the rocket's power?"

"There is, but I can't control it. I built them in stages. If they were all to fire at once, the ship and anyone aboard would be flattened or the ship would tear itself in half. The next stage should be ready to fi…" before he could finish, another jolt slammed everyone to the floor as more powerful retro rockets took over, slowing their decent further.

"Do you think you could have made it more gradual?!" Renault shouted, picking himself up once again and brushing his nose only to see it was covered in blood.

"I didn't exactly think I'd need to use it!" Phantom shouted back, the ship gradually slowed to a manageable speed, but still too fast to land. Just a few hundred feet from the ground, Phantom was about to send a warning over the com system when a third stage of retro rockets kicked in, slowing the ship enough that the Levisones were able to keep the ship suspended just a few feet from the ground allowing the landing gear to drop, then gracelessly slump to the ground as the last of the rocket's fuel ran out.

"Well, that went splendidly." Phantom called in a cheery voice, brushing the dust off his fine white coat, heavily decorated with gold buttons, chains and embroidery before pulling on his flashy bird mask-like fez.

"Remind me never to let you do that again. All hands report." Renault called, various divisions reporting that everyone was present with only minor bumps and bruises. Phantom sighed as he went down to the engine room, watching as the engineers worked furiously to patch the Plasma coil and try to repair the Induction Drive; it would be a while so he might as well have a look around, or better yet lift some need materials to repair the ship. As he walked down the gang plank, he squinted his eyes slightly when he saw what appeared to be two huge yellow towers reaching to the sky in the midst of the ocean.

"_That looks like Ludibrum._" He thought, bringing back memories of when he had heisted the king's most prized gold medallion from his palace.

"_Didn't that city used to be over here?"_ he asked himself, turning further south to where a peninsula jutted out not too far away from where he had landed next to a sheer cliff that dropped into the ocean below.

"Aria, what has happened to Ossyria?"

* * *

_He was born of light, called upon by those who lived below the light and answered its call. The art in which he had been instructed was honed by the Goddess herself. His purity and innocence is what she saw in him as his greatest weapon against the Black Mage, helping him to perfect the already powerful luminescent magic he commanded. But all light is not without its shadows, and none was effected greater than The Mage of Light, Luminous._

"Luminous! Hurry up, your dinner is going to get cold." Lania called as she put the last of the food on the table, when Luminous appeared inside of their house with a burst of light.

"I'm jealous." Lania said with a laugh as she came back from grabbing the final dish for their simple breakfast.

"Of what?"

"That ability you have to transport yourself in a flash of light. I wish that I could do such a thing." Luminous smiled, walking over to her and put his arms around her waist and kissing her lips. Over the past 18 years that two of them had grown very close, to the point of almost acting as if they were married.

"I could teach you, you know." Luminous said as he hovered just beyond her lips. Lania had grown into a fair skinned young woman, standing just shorter than Luminous with long, sandy colored hair.

"Yes, I know. But I have little to no talent for magic, you should know that." She smiled, looking over to the blackened spot in the house where she had tried to learn Luminous' magic many times, but nearly burnt down the house instead.

"It takes time. It took me almost 16 years to master, and even then I still had more time under Minerva." Luminous replied, sitting down at the table and digging into the plate of food before him.

"However, your skills as a cook are fabulous as always. You might even be able to open your own restaurant." Luminous mumbled through a mouth full of food. Lania blushed as she sat down, quietly stuffing food in her mouth trying not to let him see her cheeks. In the few minutes that had passed while they ate, Lania looked out their window, sighing contentedly when her face lit up.

"We should have a picnic!" she suddenly blurted out making Luminous nearly choke on the orange juice that he was drinking, spraying some of it onto the table.

"Where did that come from all of a sudden?" he asked, wiping his lip and the table of the sticky haze.

"Well, the weather looks like it is going to be so nice that I thought it would be perfect to have lunch as a picnic after we were done with the chores. Is that alright with you?" Lania asked looking back to see that Luminous's eyes unexpectedly seemed darker, the way he always looked when he became angry. But it quickly passed and Luminous agreed happily, despite his visual lack of delight. The chores really didn't take them long, since all they had were a few chickens and a small garden: between the two of them, they were packing for the picnic in no time. Just before they were about to leave, Luminous ran back into the house, undoing the simple seal he had placed on a small chest of his belongings and sifting through it until he found the small velvet box that he had been looking for. With a flick of his thumb, he looked at the diamond ring inside and smiled to himself: he had purchased this ring almost a year ago, but was still trying to find the right time to ask her. He felt as if this was the next logical step in their relationship. Yes the two of them had grown together, but their connection was much deeper than two people taking care of one another, almost as if he knew her from somewhere.

As he put the chest away and reapplied the seal, his right forearm felt sore, pulsing with a dull ache that made his wrist become stiff. He rolled his hand around for a bit, opening and closing his hand slowly as he walked back, putting the box in his pocket, linked his left arm with Lania's and followed her as she led him to a spot she had seen earlier. As they walked, the feeling in his left arm grew more intense, crawling up his arm almost as if dipping it into a pot of boiling water. He made himself forget about the discomfort, smiling and laughing with Lania as they walked; what was this feeling that pulsed within his arm? Once they had arrived and she was busy setting the spread, Luminous turned away and pulled back his sleeve to see if maybe he had gotten a bruise he didn't remember. What he saw instead made his blood run cold: dark violet veins reached their fingers up his arm embedded in the surface of his skin, shimmering in different shades black.

"Luminous? Is something wrong?" Lania asked sweetly. Luminous gathered his composure and pulled down his sleeve, turning back to her with a smile. But his brow told a different tale as it had been lowered over his eyes in a serious fashion.

"It's nothing. My, this all looks delicious, where do I begin?" He asked, rubbing his hands together then reaching for his favorite spinach dip when Lania grabbed his hand.

"Luminous, I've seen that look on your face before, and it always meant something was wrong. Don't lie to me; I know something is, tell me." Before Luminous could speak, a pain like he had never known surged through the right side of his face, making him bring his hand to his eye and clutch at his face almost as if her were trying to dig his fingers into his skull.

"Luminous! What's wrong?"

"STAY BACK!" he shouted, pushing her away with a sudden burst of magic, but it wasn't his normally golden light magic, it was shadow magic, flaring as though night itself had leapt from his hand.

"_The game is now over child. It is time to say goodbye._" A whisper thundered in his head as Luminous lowered his hand, revealing that his right eye was no longer a riveting aqua blue, but a soul burning red, black power surging from it as a violet line grew across his eye.

"_Now I will show you why I can never be defeated!_" the voice thundered in his head again as his face lost all emotion and began to rise into the air. Lania was suddenly terrified of the man that she had grown to love and trust: was this some kind of sick joke that she had been playing a part in all along? She didn't want to think about it and willed her body to move, scrambling to her feet and bolting back for the house when it sounded as if Luminous said something. But she was too afraid to look back and was caught in an explosion that sent her flying.

Luminous felt as if he was coming back to his own body: all of his movements felt slow and unreal, sounds were muffled and the sights around him were blurred beyond recognition. What was it that had happened? Seconds passed by like hours as he sat himself up, rubbing his eyes to try and clear his vision. What lay around him was a hollow of destruction: trunks of the trees around them had been blown to splinters, burning with a cold and unusual blue flame. The ground around them burned with the same strange flame, blackened to a crisp. But the worst of the sights he saw was Lania laying amidst the scorched earth, face down with cuts and bruises all over her delicate body.

"Lania! Lania, are you alright?" Luminous asked as he dropped to the ground beside her, kicking up ashes and soot around where he knelt. When she didn't respond, Luminous quickly picked her up and ran back as fast as he could to their house: was he the one that had done this to her? What exactly had happened? As the possibilities ran through his mind he finally understood what the Black Mage meant when he said that the game was over, memories of his final push to seal The Mage within the shell of light that had been created by Freud. Once back in their house, he worked quickly, cleaning and bandaging Lania's wounds then sitting down beside her until she woke up, contemplating was it was that had happened.

"_After all this time; I thought I avoided The Black Mage's contamination when I finally was able to push the Mage back into the seal_." As he watched Lania, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and turned to see his staff hovering in the air with a jagged spearhead of shadow magic pulsing on the end aimed for Lania. Just as it shot forward, Luminous grabbed it, stopping it before it pierced her skin: was this his doing? How could he want to kill the very woman that he had just tried to save? Beyond where she rested was Lania's Vanity, and the reflection in the mirror showed him the sickening smile of delight on his face, glaring red right eye and peppered streaks of black hair on his right side. Was this what really happened to him when he pushed The Mage back into the seal? Was the power of the Mage transferred to him? What did it all mean? The questions only mounted as he sat, waiting for Lania to wake up with a carful vigilance to make sure that nothing would hurt her, especially since it seemed that he was the one that would do so.

* * *

_The next few days were tense as Dureau pretended to search for that escaped prisoner, while the rest of his Demon Squad searched the forests in vain. Sometimes Dureau would come across the woman, staring her in the eyes for a few moments or leaving her a few scraps of food before turning and beginning his 'search' elsewhere. However Von Leon and Arkarium were beginning to become impatient and send their own battalions out to search for the prisoner. Late one night, Dureau went out alone to meet with the escaped prisoner and find out exactly what was so important about her._

_"Are you ever going to take me in?" The woman asked, hiding slightly behind a tree when she had taken a human form._

_"My superiors are losing their patience so I won't be able to keep you safe. Who are you?" Dureau asked flatly._

_"Mastema. I am a cat demon from the Khyune Realm." Dureau narrowed his eyes slightly: why were the Black Wings keeping a demon prisoner?_

_"I came to this world as a scout for the queen, but a man by the name of Magnus captured me and began to experiment on me, saying that he was seeking out a way to make his soldiers the same as I. Many times I wished I could return, but I'm only a low class and the only way I had to get back to Khyune was destroyed when I was captured." Mastema answered, lowering her eyes when she saw the marking on the left of Dureau's face, a sign of a royalty class of demon._

_"How long have you been in Magnus's prison?" Dureau asked, trying to maintain his calm. Yes, she might be a peasant class demon that might be subject to such treatment with Khyune, but to be put through such unmerited torture outside of the demon realm was another matter entirely._

_"Six years; I only escaped because Magnus left my cage unlocked by accident." Dureau breathed slowly, calming the anger boiling in his chest against the Black Wings for keeping someone akin to him locked away for so long._

_"Mastema, from this moment you are my lieutenant and as such, you are under my protection, permanently." Dureau stated, turning around and beginning to walk back towards the Temple Of Time, the current headquarters of the Black Wings. For a moment Mastema didn't move, not believing what she had just heard when Dureau turned back to her with glowing red eyes. _

_"Oh! Yes, yes master! I will follow you until the ends of the world." Mastema timidly said, picking up her weight and following after his broad, midnight blue wings._

_"Master, may I know your name?" Dureau stopped for a moment, and turned back to her so that the low glow of the mark in his face could be seen in the shadows._

_"Dureau." He replied, turning around and walking again. Mastema let the name roll around in her mind for a few moments as she followed just behind him. However Dureau had a feeling that the other generals would not take kindly to his decision, and little to his surprise he was right. _

_"What do you mean that you've taken her under your command?! SHE IS BLACK WINGS PROPERTY!" Magnus shouted as Dureau calmly sat at his desk, writing up a report for the Mage._

_"I mean as I said, Magnus; Mastema is now my lieutenant. Are you questioning the integrity of your Colonel?" Dureau asked, shifting his wings slightly as Mastema timidly came in with a glass of tea able to feel the tension hanging in the air._

_"I'm not questioning anything; you are the one that has defied orders of The Black Mage!" Magnus shouted when a strong wind blew through the room, blowing Magnus to the side but leaving Dureau's desk untouched as The Mage himself appeared before him. Dureau brushed the long dark red hair from his eyes and locked stares with the Mage. Moments passed like years as the air between them began to feel like an oven, making even Mastema have to back away from the resonating power between the two. The Mage threw his hand forward but from the floor behind The Mage, a hand of a giant creature rose up, ready to drag the Mage down with it as aura fireworks rose around it. An ethereal growl filled the air as The Mage narrowed his eyes while the chains crossing over his chest glowed, an orb of his energy gathering at his palm. _

_Neither Von Leon nor Magnus were able to see what happed in the next couple seconds that passed: Dureau jumped over his desk and appeared next to the wall while his right arm became a giant clawed hand that grabbed the Mage and slammed him against the wall that Dureau stood before. The sound of a blade being drawn rang as Dureau's mace shot to his hand. A black and red Aura Scythe appeared, held to the back of the Mage's neck. The Mage almost seemed to be smiling as his eyes took on an appeased light, holding up his hand and nodding. While Dureau dissipated the scythe, whispers filled the room making Magnus and Von Leon sputter and stumble for words._

_"Master, you can't be serious! Making him a general?! He just displayed a blatant disregard of your orders and you are going to reward him for that?!" Leon shrieked._

_"That is what the master has commanded Leon. Are you questioning him?" the dry voice of Arkarium asked, setting his staff on the ground with a sharp metallic clap. Leon and Magnus looked back to Dureau, who spun his mace around and then clipped it to his belt, making them seethe with contempt._

_"No." was all they said as they stormed out of the room, followed by The Mage who stopped and leered at him for a moment before leaving his room completely._

_"Master? What just happened?" Mastema asked peeking out from behind the file cabinet she had used to hide behind in her cat form._

_"I think I've just earned the Black Mage's respect." Dureau replied, calmly sitting at his desk and continuing to write the report he had been working on._

* * *

"And with thy heart, dost thou promise to guide all of Ossyria with all thy might when thou art crowned Empress?" Helen looked at her sternly, which was something that Ashura had never seen from her master before; it was almost frightening since she was also standing before Matthew, Grendal the Ancient, and Helen's former instructor, High Elder Gritto. With a hard swallow, Ashura bowed her head before looking up into Helen's eyes with determination.

"With all my heart, soul and mind, will I guide Ossyria when my time comes." When she finished her answer, the three Mages firmly set their staffs on the ground, while Matthew drew his Pyrope Rohen and set the tip on the ground so that the blade rang slightly.

"Then let it be known, that Princess Ashura hath accepted her duty to all of Ossyria, and from this day shall begin the journey of learning the power of Shinsoo, the sacred Feather Dragon of Ereve." Helen announced as Shinsoo walked in from behind her and seemed to smile as Ashura's mother and father walked in on the side, waving briefly hello before Helen was about to begin the spell.

"WAIT!" called a voice, making them all look up to see Mir come soaring into the lighted area. From Mir's back, a small girl leapt off and tumbled on the ground before Mir turned her nose to the sky, transforming into her human form and landing next to the girl.

"Ah, Mir, Eva I'm glad you could make it." Grendal said as he and Gritto stepped to a triangulated position around Ashura.

"I wouldn't want to miss this for the world!" Eva said. She was a bright green eyed girl with a face that even when it was serious was lit up, with maple colored, bob cut hair, dressed in a purple hemmed white dress and red overcoat.

"Thanks Eva, I really happy that you two could make it." Ashura replied. As the spell was started, Shinsoo lowered his head allowing Ashura to place her hand on his muzzle, gasping slightly as the feeling of power that he held flooded through her body. As the spell continued, Ashura felt herself be lifted into the air, still touching Shinsoo's muzzle until he was standing at his full height, neck fully extended while his feathers looked to be pulsing up his body towards her. Ashura began feeling as though all her strength were leaving her, hardly able stay awake as the spell continued, weaving the two of them together; she could hardly keep her eyes open as more and more of her strength disappeared, causing her to panic as the feeling of something invading her mind began to arise. Ashura tried to fight it, pushing away whatever it was that was trying to take over until a calming voice came into her mind.

"_Relax Princess Ashura, You'll be alright._" Ashura looked up into Shinsoo's eyes as they cycled back and forth between his states. There was something calming about them that slowed her heart down until she felt at rest, allowing the spell to work through her body. When at last the spell was complete, a bright light engulfed Ashura and Shinsoo making everyone cover their eyes for a few moments. When it finally dimmed, it revealed Shinsoo in his human form holding Ashura tightly as he spread his wings and slowly floated down to the ground. Mihile reached out his hand for Ashura to grab hold of, but before she could grasp it she collapsed to the ground.

"Why do I feel so weak?" She whispered as she further collapsed to the ground on her back. Shinsoo knelt cradling her in one arm.

"It is a product of my power; every emperor or empress has had this happen ever since Minerva suggested it with the first Emperor. My power rebuilds your body on the cellular level, allowing your body to handle my power. It took your mother nearly three years before she could withstand the full extent." Shinsoo smiled, picking Ashura up in his arms and taking her back to her sleeping quarters where she would be for the next few days.

"So, tell me again mom why the Empress needed to form a life binding with Tzarax? I thought that was only supposed to be done with the Empress or Emperor and Shinsoo?" Eva asked bluntly when she realized that Cygnus herself walked over to thank them for coming.

"Eva, there's no such need to be rude." Mir scolded, but Cygnus only laughed.

"It's quite alright Mir." Cygnus smiled, kneeling down to Eva's level.

"When I was a little girl, I came down with a very serious illness. The Priests of that time were able to heal me, but when the illness left my body it left me so weak that I couldn't even speak. Even after a month I didn't recover, so my father revoked his contract with Shinsoo and bound my life to his instead. Once my life was bound to Shinsoo, my strength returned and I could walk normally rather than bed ridden day after day. Without being bound to Shinsoo, I would once again be too weak to move."

"So that's why you needed to form a life binding with Tzarax. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to move." Eva said with a bright smile.

"That indeed Eva, that indeed." Cygnus smiled, waving goodbye as Mir leapt into the sky and transformed once again to return to Evan.

"Will she be ready for her speech?" Cygnus asked, turning back to Matthew who stood by to listen to the Empress's explanation.

"She's a stubborn girl; she won't be down for long. The challenge is in keeping her resting." Matthew laughed as he turned to leave with Helen.

"Thou dost realize our future is not what we experienced? The Ashura of _that_ future was not connected with Shinsoo." Helen whispered, remembering the information they had been told by Aufheben before taking her back to her time.

"I wouldn't worry too much about what happened then. Besides, that future and the future we were writing back then was already different, so it stands to reason our future here might be similar, but not exactly the same." Helen nodded her understanding, saying goodbye as she readied to return the Library where no doubt a group of students were waiting for her return. However there was a strange feeling of foreboding in the air, a thick fear that could only be felt by her and the other Guardians, as well as the High Elders. Additionally, every time she and the other Guardians were able to meet, they all said that it felt as if the Black Mage had never been truly defeated. Was there something else out there?

* * *

_Days turned to months as Dureau gained respect from his General piers, demonstrating from time to time that his power would match or exceed even the most powerful of them. Being that Dureau was the son of the queen, his power was many times that of any normal demon which often found him being compared to The Mage himself. Mastema would always be close behind him where ever he went, always ready to do whatever it was that he asked. Maybe it was because he had saved her from a life of painful experiments, or maybe it was because he was so much more powerful than she was, but all she knew was that she wanted to serve him to the best of her abilities._

_"You love him don't you?" Hilla asked one day, making Mastema's ashen skin become bright red, holding her ears as high as they would go and straightening out her tail._

_"What?! Me love the General? That's impossible! I just want to be able to serve him any way I can." She shot back, her tail twitching while the small wings on her back shifted uncomfortably._

_"I can see why you have such a strong feeling for him. Even I have sometimes wished to…"_

_"No, not to my Master Dureau."_

_"That right there proves what you've denied. You do love him, on some level or another." Hilla smiled, walking back to her task at hand. However it left Mastema confused: being a demon of Khyune meant that emotions and pairings were not something that were always thought of. Pairings were chosen for you by the king or queen of the time if you were of a higher rank, or came about out of convenience or desperation if you were of a low rank. Was she allowed to even feel anything and choose her own mate even if there was such an enormous ranking gap between them? Then again, she was in a different world, so the laws of Khyune may not apply here. _

_"Mastema, where have you been?" Dureau asked sternly making her jump._

_"I was just sending off the report and returning to your quarters." she answered meekly._

_"I see. I will be back in a while. If anyone asks, just tell them I will be back." Dureau said as he walked off, spreading his wings and flying high into the sky. Mastema turned to leave, but decided to stay and noticed that Dureau tucked in his wings and dove straight down without even activating the Dragon Transformation spell. The other thing that intrigued her was that she suddenly realized every month, he would disappear from the temple for a couple of days and return in a lighter mood. Was there already someone that he was in love with? These were questions that she would have to ask him about some time._

_Before either of them were aware, six years passed as Dureau became more and more respected by his fellow generals, gaining favor with The Mage and even being named second master general of the Black Wings forces, second only to Arkarium. Through those six years, Mastema had come to find that the trips her superior officer would take from the Temple were to see his family now residing in the Southernmost tip of the Leafre Forest. She had followed him on one occasion, finding that they were living on the boarder of Mu Lung and El Nath at the time. Out of care for his family, Dureau had moved them where they resided now in Leafre. This would make the eighth time that they had been moved since she found out about his family and could only guess how many times before that they had been moved. _

_His mother and little brother told them that a man in a dark coat would appear in their town two to three days after they had moved. This time however, it only took a few hours and this seemed to visually concern Dureau since it was well known that Arkarium had become increasingly zealous in a vendetta against Dureau, constantly trying to find something that would prove he was the better general. But time and again, Dureau would often get the credit that Arkarium insisted belonged to him. Even when the Black Wings had conquered the Temple of Time as their palace, it was recognized that Dureau was the one who conquered the mass of forces from the temple and not Arkarium, despite his treacherous deed of poisoning Rhinne with Liquefied Black Magic. _

_And then there was his Lieutenant, the escapee that was originally a test subject of the Black Wings and Magnus; even though he had disobeyed orders of bringing her back, The Mage still allowed Dureau to become one of the generals! Arkarium's chance to prove once and for all that Dureau was nothing more than a scum sucking demon came when orders from The Mage himself said to not just destroy the major cities, but everything. This meant that the informant he had sent after Dureau would come in handy, and that the southern part of Leafre would be the first to go, even before the war meeting to inform all the generals of the new orders. _

_Later that day_

_Von Leon looked around the room with ever watchful predator's eyes, still mulling over the fact that it was the Black Wings who had killed his Queen, and not a soldier of Ereve._

_"Are all the Generals here, save for the ones assigned to missions?" he asked, nodding to Arkarium, Orca and Dureau who always fidgeted in his chair because of his annoying wings, larger even than those of Magnus._

_"Good, then let the War Summit of the Black Wings commence." Von stated as Arkarium stood to speak._

_"Our battle on Ossyria is nearing the final stages. The mighty Black Mage is still working on the finer points of our attack, and until he is finished we must remain on our highest guard. With the master distracted in trying to locate Rhinne, we are still vulnerable to attack, even here at the Temple of Time. Dureau, I heard that you have discovered some rather interesting information." Arakrium asked, turning his eyes to him._

_"That, I have. Another resistance group is forming itself in secret, building their forces by the hundreds to make a move against us." Arkarium snorted, setting down the orb in his hand and taking his seat._

_"Another resistance? That is the most preposterous thing that I have ever heard in my entire life. There is no one who is able to stand against the might of the Black Wings, not even that rabble they are calling 'heroes'; Such an adorable name." Arkarium huffed._

_"I'm actually excited to see these lowly humans scramble for their lives in such a panic. It might make up for the unexciting battles they have been giving us, especially the one at Ereve or when I eliminated Castelan."Orca scoffed, using her enormous power to hover just above the lip of the table, making up for her short height._

_"Watch your tongue Orca: our victory in Ereve was because of the Master's involvement. It had nothing to do with your menial power." Arkarium shot back, all the while Orca flapping her jaw, opening and closing her hand as he spoke._

_"Well since the Mage took care of everything I didn't have to use my full power." Orca retorted, crossing her arms and pushing out her bottom lip in a pout._

_"Suu seems to be rather busy… if that's the case, why are you here and not with him?" Dureau asked with a sneer._

_"Suu is always looking for something to do! He doesn't even wait for assignments. I was GOING to back him up…" For a moment Orca stopped talking, tears almost looking as if they were going to fall from her eyes. Before they could, she wiped them away and looked back hard to Dureau._

_"You don't have to harass me about it. The rest of you old timers are too uptight anyway." Von Leon growled as he huffed, sitting back in his chair and looking around at his peers._

_"This meeting is going nowhere." The comment made Arkarium wheeze a laugh, shaking his head._

_"Have you ever noticed that when Orca speaks that a meeting will come to a grinding halt? Amusing don't you think? As for the so called Heroes, I am confident that Dureau already has a plan to deal with them, since it was you who allowed us the victory in seizing the Temple of Time. I'm sure that these 'heroes' will be no challenge for you." Arkarium sneered._

_"The Temple of Time was an easy foe because they didn't have the goddess herself at their disposal. However these 'heroes', won't be as easy since they have been endowed with the power of Minerva herself and drawing on the will of the people they protect. That fact alone makes them far more dangerous than anyone. And if you must know, I only made sure the keep the Knights of the temple busy; The Mage was the one who fully captured the Temple and brought it under his control." Dureau replied, growling in his throat as he stared up at Arkarium from under his eyebrows._

_"My my, aren't you the modest one. It must be why the Mage always has near his right hand." Arkarium smiled, stepping away from the table to make an overly pronounced bow to him._

_"You put the rest of us to shame Dureau." It was Arkarium's turn to look up at Dureau from under his eyebrows. But despite his seething rage at him at that moment, Dureau said nothing and shifted the papers before him, writing a note on one of the pages._

_"Enough! The both of you! Your prattling is growing tiresome!" Von roared, his stare alone making Arkarium return to his seat._

_"Why? I find what this blithering idiot has to say amusing. Heh heh." Orca laughed, while Arkarium let a sly smile play across his face._

_"And I am only complimenting the true HERO of the Black Wings; the great and MIGHTY Dureau." He announced with an overly pronounced complimenting tone. Again Dureau said nothing, writing another note on the page before him, visually on the edge of breaking his calm and tearing the man limb from limb._

_"That's enough Arkarium! I am quickly tiring of your bigotry! Dureau was the one to fight through the toughest of forces and allowing the Mage to take control of the Temple, making his contribution to our cause the most important. Besides, you were the one credited for bringing the Goddess Rhinne herself under the control of Black Magic despite losing track of her in the temple, what more could you possibly want?" Von Leon asked, flexing his hand in agitation while looking up at him._

_"I don't want anything. I'm only… making observations. Shouldn't we continue with the meeting? What of the remnants of the first resistance?"_

_"As commanded, they have been dealt with: none of them are left." Von Leon responded._

_"And what of this new resistance?"_

_"They are nothing more than a final line of defense, gathering up people to try and hold us off. I've gathered the remainder of my squadron: they will be defeated just as easily as the first." Von Leon answered, leaning back in his chair._

_"I have a question for you Arkarium." Orca piped up._

_"Why were our orders changed to destroy everything? If everything is destroyed, who would be left to…"_

_"Destroy everything? When did such an order go out? Our orders were only to subjugate the major cities of Ossyria. I received no such order for destruction on such a massive scale." Dureau interrupted, suddenly seeming worried._

_"Oh, yes. The order was given after the Assault on Orbis; you seemed like you were so tired afterwards; I must have forgotten to pass along the message." Arkarium wheezed. The blood rushed to Dureau's face, making his skin become the color of fire, despite being as pale as it was._

_"WHAT?! That assault was only a week ago! THAT IS PROPOSTEROUS!"_

_"No it isn't. During my patrol I saw that Leafre was burned to a crisp. Nothing was left." Von responded indifferently. Dureau's mind began to race; Leafre was the place that he had just moved his family too, not to mention that he had to come to their defense when the stalker that had been showing up after a few days had appeared after only a few hours._

_"The Black Mage has made us his emissaries, his prophets, to show the world the price for resisting him. And in order for us to be victorious, all seeds of suspected treachery must be weeded out. And as such, I think we have done rather well." Arkarium said, seeming to almost complement himself for such a deed._

_"That we have. Now there are only a few humans and a handful of loyal Dragon servants left; victory for us is within our grasp." Von purred._

_"Hold a moment Von; Didn't the Mage promise to leave the southern region alone in the original plan? Which parts were destroyed?" Dureau asked, seeming to be in a desperate mood._

_"Which parts? Are you sure that your hearing is alright? Everything was destroyed, per the orders of the Black Mage, which we take very seriously. Why, is something wrong?" Arkarium asked sarcastically. Dureau felt as if he would faint, but he managed to keep his composure, grabbing up the mace next to him and clipping it to his belt._

_"Excuse me… I have a personal matter to attend to."_

_"You will do no such thing. Even if you are favored of the Mage, you are still bound to follow orders of a superior officer! Sit Down, THAT is an order." But Dureau wasn't listening, already getting up and storming from the room, even going so far as to hurl Arkarium away from him when he tried to make him sit down._

_"Mother, Damian… please… be safe."_

* * *

Mercedes had just about had enough: how could these people treat her like such a commoner? She was the queen of the Elvin people after all! Sure, subjecting herself to the embarrassing younglings training grounds in order to help herself was indeed needed. But subjugating herself to a common servant was abhorrent! So many tasks needed to be done, only to have another long arduous task heaped upon her shoulders.

"_I suppose it's not all bad, I have been able to hone my abilities to that of an Order 30 and the Elders are no longer frozen. But still, to have no record of the Elvin people is… astounding. How could no record of us exist at all in this world?_" She pushed these thoughts aside because she needed to retrieve something she gave to her student so long ago to protect; The treasure of the Ellul, Mistelteinn. Surly that human doctor Betty might know if there was another person similar to her. She quickly found the doctor friend she had made, still mulling over the samples she had pulled from the Evil Eye and strange Curse Eye newts not too long ago.

"Excuse me, Betty?"

"Oh, Mercedes! Thank you for all your help earlier today, it was a great help in my research. If there is any way, any way at all that I can repay you, please tell me."

"As a matter of fact, there is. Do you know of anyone like myself? Someone having pointed ears, calm and quiet demeanor but also stubborn and she may have a potential for being a strong archer. She may be a child…"

"A child?" Betty interrupted when Mercedes laughed at herself.

"I suppose she wouldn't be a child any longer though she may even be quite powerful. Do you know of anyone like that? It would mean quite a lot to me if you did and I'll pay you anything."

"Oh no! You don't owe me anything! Now let me think…" Betty thought for a moment, rubbing her chin as she thought.

"I do know of a couple people, but the closest one is in Henesys at the moment I believe. Her ears aren't as points as yours, nor is her hair as long. But she is a very powerful archer, famous even."

"Famous? Athena Peirce is famous? That is something I certainly didn't expect."

"No no no; Athena was quite famous and for a while was the instructor in Henesys, but she was succeeded by her daughter, Jenny Waterman. I'm sure that if you're looking for her, Jenny could take you right to her. How do you know Athena?" But Mercedes was lost in her own thoughts: Athena had a daughter? With excited questions rising in her mind, Mercedes found the trail leading to Henesys and quickly made her way there. But the town she saw was far busier than she was ready for as people seemed to be just standing around doing nothing but shouting about sales they were making, or looking for a group of people to go on an excursion.

She finally managed to find someone willing to tell her were Jenny's house was, standing before a large tree that had been hallowed out on the inside to make a house, and from inside she could hear the voices of at least three people. Carefully and cautiously she opened the door to reveal a spacious floor, interrupted only by a single staircase that led up to a smaller area with a desk at one end.

"Hello? Is anyone here? I've come to speak with Jenny Waterman." Mercedes called, her hand brushing against the bow gun on her right, just in case. From somewhere in the back, a mild female voice called out.

"Jenny isn't here at the moment, I'll be with you in just a minute!" it called. Mercedes relaxed slightly and walked over to a wall, having a few pictures hanging on it with one in particular catching her attention.

"_Is she wearing the Sky Lineros?_" she thought to herself, looking closer at the green haired girl, holding a fine gold and black bow with a hand guard in the shape of a maple leaf on the center of the bow. Footsteps coming down the hall on the wooden floor brought her attention back to where it was coming from as the woman began to speak.

"Alright, as I said before, Jenny isn't here at the moment, but if you've come to… train as…" Her voice trailed off as Mercedes turned to face who it was that spoke, stopping completely and just staring at the woman that stood before her, dressed in a fitted wine red, hooded robe. The two of them said nothing as they looked each other over when Mercedes gradually recognized the determined light in those grass green eyes.

"Athena, my how you've grown." She said with a breath of astonishment.

"No, it can't be… Mercedes?!"

* * *

**I'm changing some of the things in this story, though the more obvious changes will come a bit later**


	3. Chapter 2: Treasures and Thieves

Chapter 2: Treasures and Thieves

"How many of those things do you plan on taking? I mean just the cannon alone must weigh at least 200 pounds, now you wanna carry ammunition for it?" Jack exclaimed, watching his newest of crew members Acer put the final touches on a large cylindrical hand held cannon.

"This is no ordinary cannon! It only looks heavy because I want people to think that it is. Here, check it out." Acer said, grabbing the handle and hoisting it onto his right shoulder before starting to lean over to the left, unable to stop the cannon from pushing him over. Jack laughed, catching the cannon while Acer stepped out from under it.

"See, this is what I was talking about: You can't even hold it, let alone fire the thing. With any luck we'll probably find you somewhere in the Dragon's Nest." Jack laughed. With a hard clomp, Jack set the cannon back on the work bench which groaned in disapproval. Acer scratched his head, looking over the entire thing one more time, tightening screws again and checking some rather strange looking metal pipelines that ran from the trigger to the back of the gun.

"I don't get it. It was working a second ago." Acer whined, putting his hand on the handle again when he felt a small click under his grip.

"Ah! That's what the problem is. A Mana Contact came loose." Acer laughed, grabbing his rivet gun and snapping the small finger sized plate back in place.

"Alright, let try this again." When he grabbed the handle, bright blue lights along the barrel came to life with a hard metallic clap as he picked it up with ease onto his shoulder once again. Two rows of lights lit up as if it were a gauge next to Acer's face while small flaps all around the back of the barrel opened to reveal a warm glow within.

"There; no problem what so ever. I give you, the Arm Cannon 3.56, Mana Edition!" Acer said proudly, pulling his leg up on a stack of metal and putting his hand on his hip.

"Acer, I hate to break up you triumph, but the bullets for this thing are twice the size of my head. I know I'd be able to fire it because I have the strength and part of the Ruby Crystal's power. No offence, but you're gonna get yourself killed." Jack said with concern, only met by Acer's wild grin.

"Acer, what are you going to do?" Jack asked, since that grin always meant trouble of some kind.

"I'm gonna fire it! Wanna watch?"

"Acer, I really don't think that's such…" but before Jack could finish, Acer was already out the door of his workshop and out on the front lawn taking aim at a large steel structure. With the hammer already pulled back, Jack could tell that it was already loaded. Acer smiled enormously as he flipped down a targeting reticule on the side.

"_Please let this work…_" he thought, and pulled the trigger. The twin rows of lights shrank while the pipes running to the back of the gun lit up with the same blue glow, making jets of flames hum from the vents just as the hammer clapped down. In the same instant that the shell ignited, blasts of flames intensified eight fold making the kick back of the giant shell nearly non-existent. When the gun smoke finally cleared, Acer was standing proudly as he had within the workshop just as an explosion at the base of the metal structure resounded through the air.

"See, I told you it'd work." Acer said proudly as Jack crossed his arms as Patricia walked up to him and set her staff down.

"That's all good and dandy Acer, but how long does it take to reload: Yeah sure, the thing fires a heavy duty round, but can you do it quickly and in the heat of battle?" Jack asked smugly. Acer smiled, setting the cannon on the ground with a clank.

"I'm still working on that. But at least now it fires without blowing up. Also I've been watching some of the classes that you teach Jack, picking up things here and there to try and apply them to this. It's still a work in progress." Acer smiled. Jack just laughed as he shook his head, turning back around and putting his hand around Patricia's shoulders.

"Alright Ace, just keep in mind that I'm still waiting for that booster for the Nautilus you promised me." Jack called making Acer shut his eyes tight and suck on his bottom lip: he had been so engrossed into making this cannon that he completely forgot about the booster circuit he promised to Jack. Running back inside he immediately began plugging in various soldering irons and pulling out materials to make it, when a thought hit him and he began once again working on the cannon.

"_The Circuit is simple enough: I should have it finished in no time._" He told himself, busying himself with another part on the cannon.

* * *

It felt like it had only been a few minutes but at last he opened his eyes again, only to close them slightly because of the light coming into the room.

"_What? What Am I doing here? Why am I even alive? The last thing I remember, one of the Guardians cut through my heart._" Horn Tail asked himself as the scene played through his mind as if it were a nightmare. A sudden throbbing in his chest and back made him realize that he _did_ die, and that he was mortally wounded. But how was he alive now? The other four heads awoke as well, each one taking the weight of their massive heads and looking around the darkened room. To one corner he could see the famed Pink Bean slumped against the wall, his former commander Zakuhm against another, and the Black Mage's pet, Balrog near the door. But what were they all doing here? A stirring made Horn Tail turn all five of his heads towards the sound, seeing that Zakuhm was beginning to wake up, pulling one of his heads from the ground before cracking his long neck.

"Ah, Skeleth, it's been some time since I last saw you. Where are we?"

"I do not go by that name any longer Zakuhm; I have decided on the name Horn Tail. As for why we are here, I don't have any explanation." Zakuhm was visibly shaking as he looked towards his subordinate, all of his heads now awake, their eyes glowing with anger.

"You address a commander in such a familiar tone?!" Zakuhm thundered when Balrog picked up his weight as he sat in the corner.

"Stop bickering, you're giving me a headache." He growled as Pink Bean stirred and sat up when bright torches flared to life all around them. For a few moments they all looked at each other in astonishment; yes they all still had their basic forms, but their flesh hung from them as if it were torn cloth in certain places, revealing their bones below and noting but hallow space within. Their faces looked rotted and disfigured, some of Zakuhm's and Horn Tail's heads missing eyes as well as patches of flesh. One of Zakuhm's heads was even a bare skull with nothing but dull lights for eyes.

"I'm glad to see that you've all finally awakened." A woman's voice rang making them all turn seeing a elegantly slender woman with long platinum blond hair and a large metal frame hovering behind her, emanating a strangely familiar power.

"Who are you? Were you the one that brought us here?" Pink Bean squeaked, making Balrog snort as he tried to stifle a laugh.

"I am: I am also the one that brought you back to the living plain. My name is Clytemnestra." Zakuhm's main head snaked down to her level, eyeing her with his empty eye socket as though trying to confirm what she said was true.

"That is impossible. Only the Black Mage had that kind of power, and he is no doubt dead since we are nothing more than living corpses." He growled. Clytemnestra took a breath as the frame behind her glowed slightly brighter for a moment before locking gazes.

"You doubt the power that The Black Mage has left me in this frame work here?" she asked with a sultry yet sinister tone before continuing her explanation.

"You may regard me how you will, but I am the one who brought you back to life. As you are, it may seem to you that you are nothing but walking dead. Believe me you when I say that you have been reborn, stronger."

"If memory serves, the last time we were resurrected was to be The Mage's personal training stepping stones. How do we know that you aren't doing the same?" Horn Tail seethed, already not liking this woman since she gave off the same irritating aura that felt so similar to that of The Mage.

"Because my goals do not involve mass amounts of power: I am only continuing his will of destroying Ossyria, and you are merely going to help me to that end." Clytemnestra answered, meeting his gaze with her own unsettling eyes, holding out her arm and brushing the backs of her fingers across her outstretched forearm.

"As you can see, I am a human of flesh and blood. The Black Mage wasn't much more than an aura clothed in a cloak, so his body could withstand massive changes in power on a whim. A human such as myself, must take such drastic changes a bit more slowly. I am seeking power, but it will take time for my body to adjust. While my shadow knights are capable warriors, I am enlisting you four as the first line of defense: The Chaos Beasts. As I said before, you have been reborn stronger, though you may not feel or look that part. I would try and repair the damage done to your bodies by time, but I feel it suits you all. However, you will need new names to reflect you new lives." Clytemnestra smiled, as she walked further into the room, her sultry curves drawing their eyes to her as she walked with a thoughtful countenance.

"Horn Tail, your original name of Skeleth will serve just fine."

"Why would we need new names in the first place?" Zakuhm scowled, cutting Clytemnestra off before she could speak.

"Because your current names are known as dead. However, out of all of you, the one that needs a better name more than anyone, is you Pink Bean." Horn Tail and Balrog both turned to him, trying to stifle a laugh as Bean's face became a bright red.

"What wrong with my name?! I am one of the fiercest warriors from my world!" He squeaked.

"That you may have been there, but here you name just doesn't strike fear into the hearts of those that hear it. How many people do you know of that have shaken in their grieves when they have heard your name?" Bean could only stare at her, enraged as he tried to think of at least one person that shook in fear.

"Well no one, but everyone that did face me either died, or soon found out that I am indeed far more powerful than they think and walked away with some pretty bad injuries!"

"That's not what I was asking Bean. In the mean time, I will assign your new names soon enough; it relives me to know that I have such powerful allies." Clytemnestra said smoothly as she walked out when Balrog spoke up.

"And should we refuse to be of any help to you?" Clytemnestra merely looked over her shoulder at him with a mysterious smile, when he noticed a small drop of sweat running down her forehead. If she was indeed so powerful, then what need did she have to fear them, if that is what the drop meant? But Clytemnestra simply left, walking with purpose down the hallways until she felt she was far enough away from the room then slumped against the wall panting hard. As she rested, she suddenly threw her head back and fell forward as though she had been hit chest level in the back, clutching her face.

"_Is this how it's going to be? I must find a way to stop this, or else I just may lose before I have even begun to fight._" She thought, closing her eyes as the frame reached out and embraced her once again, covering her from the outside world as it hovered back to the main room. The power that was being sapped from the egg-like rock found in the Verne Mines was helping, but it still wasn't helping fast enough for her.

* * *

When Athena came out of the back room, she fell back into her natural rhythm, even though it had almost been 18 years since she had been in this place as an instructor, thinking that another young person had come to learn archery, eager for adventure.

"Alright, as I said before, Jenny isn't here at the moment, but if you've come to… train as…" Athena slowed to a stop when she saw the delicate dress and light armor as well as the long blond hair that she knew so well. Thoughts surged through her mind as memories from so long ago of her Queen, her teacher, her friend came rushing back.

"Athena, my how you've grown." The woman said, smiling her bright and comforting smile that even when she felt happy, brought tears to Athena's eyes.

"It can't be… Mercedes? MASTER!" Athena cried, running at Mercedes and wrapping her arms around her as tightly as she could, small tears of happiness clinging to the corners of her eyes. Mercedes did her best not to chuckle as Athena cried just as if she were a young one once again while clinging to her with all her might.

"There there Athena, there's no need for such tears. You are after all a very powerful archer are you not?" Mercedes soothed as Athena was finally able to dry her eyes.

"I knew you weren't dead; everyone and everything that I've ever seen said that you, all the heroes simply disappeared from history!" Athena said, wiping her eyes.

"What?" Mercedes had been confused when no one had heard of her and the Elvin people while helping the people of the town called Ellinia, but to have the deeds of the Heroes completely gone from history was nothing short of astonishing.

"It's true. Not many people know of you five any more. Even Aran had trouble getting people to believe that he was one of the Five Heroes from 600 years ago. Eventually he just accepted that he wasn't going to be recognized as a Hero and blended into the crowd. Only a few of us are left that know what really happened, and even then that is becoming fewer and fewer."

"Aran is alive?! It must have been the ice; please, take me to Aran and while we are on our way, we can catch up." Mercedes smiled broadly as she turned to leave, already walking out the door. But Athena was hesitant: yes, Mercedes and Aran had been somewhat close, even for friends, but…

"Your Majesty, I have to say that…"

"I can't believe that after all these years Aran was the first to awaken. What about the others? Have any of them come back as well?" Mercedes asked happily before coming back and taking Athena's arm, leading her out the door.

"Well no, not exactly, but…"

"Ah I see. Well then, tell me all that's happened up to now." Mercedes asked when someone in the town called a hello to Athena.

"Hey Athena! Haven't seen you around in a while; who's that with you?" Athena was just about to introduce her when Mercedes let go of her arm and stood regally before him.

"I am Mercedes, Hero of Ossyria and Queen of the Elvin people." For a moment the man just looked at her, and then back at Athena as if to ask 'is this person for real?'

"Right, and I'm Grendal the Ancient's brother."

"It is no joke citizen, I am indeed the queen of…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah. And who are these 'Heroes of Ossyria'? Part of some play that is going to be put on in Kerning Square?" the person asked.

"I actually heard it was supposed to be an exhibition to the 'Guardians'. But yeah I'm interested, who are these Heroes of Ossyria you're talking about?" another person asked who was walking by. Mercedes was stunned: they had never heard of the Heroes?

"The Heroes? Oh! You mean the ones that defeated the Black Mage not too long ago right?" A third asked, who had just walked out of a medicinal shop.

"No, I mean the Heroes of Ossyria. The ones that sealed the Black Mage centuries ago!" Mercedes pressed, but the people that had gathered just shook their heads in confusion.

"No, I think you mean the ones that _defeated_ the Black Mage." A voice said, making them all turn to a young brawler. Mercedes felt slightly at ease that at least someone had heard of them, but when the young man started speaking again, her heart sank.

"Jenny, Jack, Matthew, Lillianne, Helen and Olsen; They are the true Heroes of Ossyria." Athena looked back at her teacher, wondering how such a comment would hit her. Mercedes didn't respond to his statement, and instead turned from him and began walking to the north as the young man looked around at the people around him.

"What? What'd I say?" Athena held up her hand and found Mercedes leaning against the corner of a building, hugging herself almost as though she were cold.

"How could it be that no one knows of us? Yes I understand that it has been some time since we last walked this land, but to not even have a historical record is so confusing to me. What has happened after all these years?" Mercedes asked to the wind as Athena pulled her back to her feet, leading her to a cab and beginning their journey to Perion.

"A little over 40 years ago, the beasts that remained after you sealed the Black Mage slowly began gaining power and threatening all of Ossyria. To combat this, the other masters and I absorbed the power of the Great Crystals and defeated those creatures. But despite our efforts, stronger and stronger rumors began surfacing that the Black Mage was going to return. We feared that his anger still boiled from 600 years ago, and were worried that the power of the crystals would be used by him to gain his ultimate goal."

"The Destruction of Ossyria." Mercedes mumbled as Athena continued.

"To prevent his using them, we five traveled to a world called Earth to hide the crystals in hopes that if he didn't have their creative power, that he wouldn't destroy Ossyria since the Dark Crystal had been hidden. For the next 18 years, we would make a life there as the worries of Ossyria slowly faded away and we began to think that Ossyria was safe. We were wrong: The Mage was unsealed which we think was because someone had stolen the Dark Crystal and after he was released, he began resurrecting all of the beasts we had slain. We all were then informed by Aran who came to Earth to tell us that it was time to return, and brought with us our children who had inherited our Crystal Power. After a long year, they were the ones to defeat the Black Mage for good." Athena sighed and looked out the window, adjusting her cloak, then looking down to the diamond ring on her hand, surrounded by a few chips of onyx.

"After his defeat, we, The Masters, The Knights of Ereve, and our children, The Guardians of Ossyria, began seeking out the remnants of the Black Wings. During one of our patrols, we found one of the Cells burning books, but by the time we were able to put out the fire, the damage had already been done: the books were nothing but ash. We later found out that those books were the history of Ossyria, the Original history that had been recorded by Minerva's Fairies. Ever since then for the past 18 years, we've been finding that history is slowly being re-written to exclude you and the others, as well as his sealing. The only history that remains states 'The Guardians' were the ones who defeated the Black Mage and that his reign never ceased until then." Mercedes swallowed hard, leaning on the arm rest and watching the scenery aimlessly as they sped along before Athena saw the reflection in the window of her down trodden face.

"So that's why no one knows of the Heroes. It's as if they are trying to erase his defeat by us all together. Perhaps there will be some consolation when I see Aran." Mercedes smiled sadly. Athena wanted to tell her what had happened to him, but at the moment, there were no words that she could say that would even come close to preparing her for the shock she was about to get. Arriving in Perion, Mercedes again tried to convince those that gathered around in the town that she was indeed the Elvin Queen, as well as one of the Heroes. But time and time again, she would be forced to realize that no one knew who she really was, nor were they convinced that she was actually who she said she was.

"If you're looking for attention, go down to the Henesys Market Place. Course, I can show you a good time too, you know." One swordsman called, as he smoothly put his arm around Mercedes waist and promptly rested his hand on her rear. However that swordsman soon found himself lying on the ground with more bruises than pieces of armor as Athena followed a storming Mercedes. After a long while, Athena managed to calm her enough to lead her to the Warrior's Temple, where Matthew had just finished training a would be swordsman.

"Oh! Athena, hey, I didn't know you were coming by. And who is this with you? Another perspective Swordsman? You look too pretty to want to try something so coarse." Matthew smiled until Athena told him who she was.

"This is your teacher Mercedes?" He asked with wide eyes surprise.

"It is such an honor to be in your presence you majesty." Matthew said as he knelt to his knee and crossed his arm over his chest.

"No no, it is an honor to be in your presence since you were one of the ones to defeat The Mage Permanent…" Mercedes squinted her eyes slightly, looking over the armor that he wore in the warm glow of the torches that surrounded them.

"Is that the Bullion?" She asked wistfully when Athena managed to catch Matthew's attention after he had stood back up, somewhat taller than her.

"Is Aran around here?" The look Athena shot Matthew felt as if she were pleading with him to help Mercedes adjust to what life had become in Ossyria. For a moment Matthew didn't say anything when he realized what it was that was happening.

"Oh, um, yeah I think so. Lemme check." He said as he ran off to the back of the temple.

"It's felt as if it's been only a few hours since I've seen him. I wonder what he's had happen in his life up till now."

"Mercedes, I just, want you to be prepared. There have been some, changes." Athena warned. Mercedes tilted her head slightly, trying to figure out what it was that she meant.

"What do you mean?" However Athena's answer was cut off when the sound of footsteps made Mercedes look back to see a tall, strong woman with long white hair jump down from a ledge and stand before them.

"I understand someone is looking for me?" she said, placing a hand on her hip. Mercedes looked to Athena with a furrowed brow in confusion and then looked back to the girl.

"Athena, what is the meaning of this? Is this your idea of a joke? This is not Aran; where is Aran?" Mercedes demanded as Lillianne and Athena both looked down to the ground.

"You're right master, this is not Aran; this is Aran's daughter Lillianne. Aran passed away just last year." Athena said, making Mercedes back up slightly to catch herself from falling.

"I'm sorry for the disappointment; if it's any consolation, he did leave me his trusted halberd Maha. I took on his name as a memorial to him, and teach those that wanted to learn the art of the halberd."

"How did this happen? Aran was so young, so full of life. There shouldn't be any reason for his death, not this soon." Mercedes asked as she sank to the ground: so many things had changed since she last walked Ossyria. How many more things were going change for the worse before they began to become positive?

"Aran was a young man for a while, but being frozen in ice for over 600 years only put his body in a state of suspended animation. Once he had been revived, he began ageing again at a massively high rate. When his time had come, the doctors from Omega Sector said that his body was that of a 160 year old man." Matthew said as he descended the stairs. Mercedes looked as if her spirit were about to break, nearly collapsing fully to the ground as the facts kept coming that were nothing but news of her comrades demise. She had been in ice all this time, and now that she was back she was one year too late to see her best of friends.

"What of the others? What of the other heroes? What of Phantom?" But she was just met with a shake of Athena's head.

"Luminous?" Again, she was met with the shake of Athena's head, making her already crushed heart begin to sink further and further.

"Freud and Afrien?" But in her grief, Mercedes didn't hear the answer that was given: all of them, gone. She was the only one left out of all the heroes that had been trained by Minerva and at its apex, no one in this time knew who she was save for a very select few. Perhaps the best thing that she could do right now was not to try and convince the populous that she was one of the Heroes. And there was still the matter of her people frozen in ice. Taking a breath she pulled herself back to her feet and turned to Athena, trying as hard as she could to fake a polished exterior.

"Athena, do you still possess the Mistelteinn I gave you for safe keeping?" Athena blinked for a few moments in disbelief of her abrupt change in mood, trying to think where is was that she had placed it.

"Yes, I um, I've kept it safe for all these years as you asked me to."

"Then please, retrieve it and return with me to Ellul. The Curse that was placed on me had filtered down through all of the elves, and without the Mistelteinn I fear they will remain that way for eternity." Athena was almost uncomfortable for being happy that she was going to be able to return to Ellul after all this time when Mercedes was trying to recover from the mental shock she had just endured. With a nod, Athena and Mercedes said goodbye to Matthew and Lillianne as they left to return to Henesys.

"Do you think taking the name of my father was such a good idea?" Lillianne asked. Matthew shook his head and turned to her after they had left the outskirts of Perion.

"I don't see anything wrong with taking the name Aran. I think it's just the shock of seeing what has changed since she was here last." Matthew mused as he watched them leave. During the ride back to Henesys, Athena tried time and again to think of something comforting to say, but each thing that she was about to say felt like that it would be nothing more than an insult to her pain. At last decided to just say something and break the thick silence.

"Master, I have always wondered about something; what exactly is the Mistelteinn?" Mercedes sighed calmly before turning to Athena.

"Long ago, when Ossyria was still quite new, the first Elfin ruler was given the Mistelteinn by a being from the heavens. When he received this, he was told that this was something that over the generations would absorb the power from kings and queens of the Elves during their reign and store it to be used when needed. This power was used many times over to help empower the elders and rulers against foes who were too powerful for them to defeat on their own strength. When it was placed in the great tree in the center of the palace, the power could then be used on the people of Ellul." Athena nodded her understanding, thinking back to the day when she had been given the precious treasure.

"So when you gave the Mistelteinn to me…"

"The Mistelteinn only absorbs the power of the current ruler. I feared that the elders wouldn't be able to keep the Black Wings away from Ellul, and so by giving you Mistelteinn to hide it, it left no reason for the Black Wings to come searching Ellul for it." Mercedes replied sadly, feeling somewhat dazed by the events of the day.

"Then why are we returning it to Ellul?"

"When I was cursed by the Black Mage, all of the villagers were frozen as well since I am the leader. As I regained my power, The Elders were unfrozen and then tried to thaw the village, but no matter what they tried there was still no reaction to their power, even when they used the central tree to enhance their spell. The Mistelteinn must be returned in order to free those that are still trapped with the ice." Mercedes said with conviction. Athena stared in awe at her: she had always known that her master took her place as queen seriously, but never anything like this. This was a side of her that she had never seen, and in truth it was intriguing.

* * *

It had been a few days since the Lumiere had made landfall, and finally the engines were back online, once again soaring through the skies. But inside his room, Phantom paced back and forth uncomfortably. From his trips into nearby towns for parts and materials, he gathered that the newest princess was about to be presented before Ossyria, marking the beginning of her journey to absorb all of Shinsoo's powers, and that the few minutes that he had been within that slipstream, 600 years blew by.

"_It's hard to believe that he is still alive, even after all that he's been through. Even after 600 years; Shinsoo must truly be a great beast._" He thought, while at the same time warring with himself on what it was that he wanted to do. He wanted so badly to make an appearance after all these years had gone by, but at the same time he was worried that even after so long, there was still a bounty on his head, not to mention that the weapons and soldiers of this new era might be far stronger. In either case, he wanted to see the new empress and her daughter, no doubt within the same bloodline of Aria. With a look of reminiscence, he walked over to a portrait painting that he had stolen from her room and set his hand on an elegant box standing on a table below it.

"_I'll not hand over our treasure no matter how charming you try to be._" Aria's voice echoed in his mind, making Phantom smirk slightly as he opened the box to reveal the pointed blue gem within. Picking it up by the delicate gold chain and holding it before him, he watched as the light on the walls of his room danced from its facets.

"You always were stubborn about handing this over to me weren't you Aria?" He mumbled, when his butler knocked and came into his room.

"Master Phantom, The captain has just informed me that the Lumiere is holding its position above the Knights quarters as instructed. However there are quite a few guards around so getting in might be a bit harder than you think." Phantom smirked and jerked the gem up into his hand.

"Really now, Gaston; do you even know whom you are talking to?" Phantom asked, reaching for the small deck of cards in his dresser and clipping it to his belt.

"Your shoulders tell another tale Master Phantom. You seem tense, unsure of yourself."

"In all reality Gaston, I'm not sure what I will find there. After 600 years, there is bound to be much that has changed, so even I feel apprehensive about going." He said, pacing over to the window once more and taking a breath, instantly fogging it allowing Phantom to draw a smile within it that reminded him of Aria.

"Are you hoping to return the Skaia Master Phantom?" Gaston asked, making Phantom hold up his hand and look down at it, tilting his hand slightly this way and that, watching the light as it reflected.

"So much time has passed and yet it was only a moment for you and me. Do they even know what the Skaia was?" Phantom asked, closing his hand around the gem and taking a breath.

"Well, it's now or never, and I certainly don't want to lose my nerve. Should I send a Note Gaston?" he asked, walking over to the closet and pulling out his famed white and gold cloak.

"Well, since this is your first appearance in over 600 years, I doubt that such action would be remembered or even welcomed. Perhaps you should just show up, as you always have." Phantom smiled and chuckled in his throat.

"You know me too well Gaston. Has Renault been able to ready the projectors as I asked?"

"Yes Master Phantom. Don't worry too much about pursuit; the engines shall be on standby for immediate departure. I wish you luck." Phantom nodded and jogged out of the room onto the deck of the ship, breathing in the fresh air: today smelled of adventure and high spirits. He then jumped from the bow of the ship into a small cradle and hit the only button on its dash, beginning to lower himself to the ground with the aid of a brass chain.

* * *

_Hovering over the town where he had moved his family the day before, Dureau saw the entire village engulfed in flames. The sight was too much for him to bear almost making him fall out of the sky. Running through the streets instead, he called for his mother and his human little brother Damian; despite him being of a different race all together, they were still family. The house that he had moved them into was nothing but burning coal, too hot for him to enter._

_ The pain tearing at his heart brought him to his knees, unable to stand; it felt as if he were able to hear the sounds of his family screaming for salvation from inside the burning building when it collapsed on them. In the distance he could hear the far off sound of the Mage's armies and the armies of Ossyria begin their battle, but he couldn't find the will to fight, not even the will to live. Falling onto his hands and letting his wings droop to the ground, tears began to sting his eyes for the first time in his 35 years of life in this world._

_"Mother… Damian… Forgive me, for I was unable to protect you." he sobbed, clenching his hands tight making the leather gloves creak under his grip when the side of his hand felt something metal. Opening his eyes, he saw the brass locket that Damian had made for him the day he left; it must have fallen out of his pocket when he fell forward he thought. Weakly he pressed the button, opening the flap to the picture inside, making his heart break even further when he saw their smiling faces._

_"I endured the worst kind of criticism and blame to believe that with the power I gained, I could protect the ones that I love and the ones that were most precious to me. But now… I've lost everything. I will make you pay… BLACK MAGE!" The shout he produced could tear anyone's soul from their body as his power ran wild, shooting into the sky as a red column as he shot into the air, racing back to the Temple of Time and landing with enough force that the winds following him blew the near-by soldiers away._

_"Those that wish to see tomorrow leave now, else face your death here." He growled, his red eyes seeming to glow with boiling rage as he began walking through the halls of the Temple. He smashed and swept aside any soldier that came within arm's reach since orders had been given to destroy him for his disobedience. Why? Why was it that his promise had been broken? The Mage himself and Dureau signed a blood pact together that the southernmost part of Leafre would be left alone, and that not a human life would be lost there. _

_When he turned down the last hallway previous to The Black Mage's throne room, Mastema came out from behind a statue shivering in fear. She had never seen such ferocity from Dureau and was quite fearful of it. When the order for Dureau to be eliminated came and she heard the fighting, she became worried that something had happened to him, but when she saw that he was alright, she quickly ran to him wrapping her arms around his waist._

_"General! I was so worried about you! Where were you? I thought maybe Arkarium had found you and eliminated you. But why are you here? Arkarium has it out for you since…" Dureau pushed Mastema aside, not even so much as looking at her while continuing down the hall until Mastema stepped in front of him again._

_"General Dureau? What's wrong? You used to scold me when I did such things as hug you or stop you, but now..." But then she saw the tears still dampening the skin on his cheeks, making her stop and consider that maybe something was seriously wrong._

_"Did something happen? Are you hurt?" She asked, looking all over him and sniffing the air for blood._

_"Tell me Mastema, who do you serve? Me, or the Black Mage?" Dureau asked in a flat tone. Mastema backed up slightly, confused by the question._

_"Wh-what? Why would you ask me such a…"_

_"Answer Me!" Dureau snapped, turning his narrow pupil eyes to her so fast that it made her jump._

_"I- I'm loyal to the Black Mage and his cause, but the day that you saved my life I pledged myself to you: I will go wherever you go. Does that answer your question?"_

_"If that is your answer, then I have a favor to ask of you." Dureau reached into his coat and pulled a letter that he had drafted many weeks ago. He hoped that he would never have to actually send it due to recent actions and accidental discoveries of secret meetings between The Mage and some of the highest ranking soldiers, but circumstance dictated that now was the time. _

_"Give this letter to the Heroes." Dureau said quietly, pressing it into her hands. Mastema's eyes went wide._

_"WHAT… what are you thinking? The Mage and Arkarium both have their armies after you for disobeying a direct order, and you want to make things worse? If anyone finds out that you're trying to contact the heroes, you're finished as a General!"_

_"My Life as a General of the Black Wings ended when I came back to the Temple." Dureau mumbled, his eyes falling to the floor and then to the locket in his hand as tears ran down his face._

_"Wait… are you betraying the Black Mage? But you're the most Loyal General! You Practically GAVE him the Temple of Time. We have everything… why are you doing this?"Mastema pressed._

_"There's no time to explain! If you are truly loyal to me, you will do as I ask. If not…" Dureau placed a hand on the pummel of his mace, which glowed as his Ageis filled the crystal at the top._

_"General, I'll do it… I'm just worried about you." Dureau only closed his eyes, taking a ragged breath as he tried to keep his tears from falling._

_"What about your family? Won't they be in da…"_

_"SILENCE! Do not speak of my family!" he snapped, gripping the locket in his hand._

_"Did something happen to them already?" Mastema asked gently, but Dureau's silence and dark eyes made it painfully obvious to her. Mastema's ears drooped as she moved to him and put her arms around him once more._

_"You were always the quiet type, but your silence speaks volumes. Very well; I swear to you on my life, that I will deliver this letter to the Heroes." Mastema's promise gave Dureau some hope, making him feel that he was allowed to return Mastema's comfort as he put his own arms around her and held her tightly._

_"Thank you. I am sorry to ask such a thing of you, Mastema." Mastema backed away, looking him straight in the eyes._

_"Don't be sorry! I owe you my life after all. In fact I…" But she suddenly realized that what she was about to say was going to be infinitely inappropriate, and decided to say something else instead, backing away from him as her pale skin flared pinkish red for a moment._

_"I appreciate your trust. I'm going. Whatever it is you are doing… good luck." Mastema said, but before she activated her teleportation spell, she ran back to him and placed a kiss on his cheek then disappeared quickly on her task._

_"Your loyalty means so much to me Mastema. Thank you." Dereau smiled, but the sentiment was quickly pushed aside as Dureau made his way to the throne room of the Mage, where the smug Arkarium stepped into his path._

_"Ah, Dureau. I hope that your little adventure was uneventful." Dureau became nauseated at his pompous attitude, fueling the rage that he already felt. He went to go around him when Arkarium once again stepped into his path._

_"Move." Dureau hissed, slowly turning his fire filled gaze to him._

_"How is your family? I trust that they are doing well? I hope nothing has happened to them, being that they are in the southern region."_

_"Are you deaf? I ordered you to move." Arkarium shook his head, sucking his tongue as he did,_

_"Tisk tisk Dureau… First you leave, disobeying orders not to, make a demand to a superior officer, and to top it all off, your stance is that of a threat against the Black Mage? Such insolence will not be allowed in the presence of the master." Arkarium mocked. Dureau's rage came to a head, the Ageis on his arm glowing a dark yellow as he reached for his mace and swung hard. A flock of ravens made from pure Ageis flew forward with the swing._

_"I SAID MOVE!" But the swing was wide and Arkarium easily dodged it, teleporting behind him as the ravens blew past._

_"Such passion… this is treason Dureau. Are you really so weak minded that the simple loss of your family drives you to such insanity? Utterly pathetic."_

_"SILENCE!" Dureau thundered spinning around as his Ageis engulfed his body and transformed his mace into a giant sword, thundering with flames of aura that he thrust forward. But yet again, Arkarium teleported to his rear flank and smirked. _

_"You disappoint me Dureau; you don't even understand the Black Mage's intentions!"_

_"I don't need to know his intentions to know a traitor!" Dureau howled, turning once again to swing, but was suddenly held still when clones of Lyka bit down hard on his arms, holding him in place. But that did little to hold him as Dureau leapt into the air, tearing teeth from their mouths, and then landing back down hard, his Ageis weaving through the ground and exploding into hundreds of thorns, killing them all instantly._

_"My my, I never knew you had such power within you. Perhaps I should have suggested to the Mage sooner the elimination of your family if this was to be the result. But I have waited long for a day when I could prove to you that magic is far more powerful than a demon's Fury! Prepare yourself for Oblivion!" Arkarium wheezed as the cobra familiar over his shoulder opened its mouth wide while Arkarium fed his mana into it, creating an orb of electricity that readied to strike at Dureau. However the demon slayer moved faster, flitting from here to there in bursts of dark red Ageis until he had a moment to charge his attack._

_"OUT OF MY WAY!" Dureau growled, slamming his mace hard into the ground, making stones filled his with his fury jump from the ground and explode around Arkarium, who protected himself with a barrier and prepared for another attack when Dureau suddenly appeared before him._

_"You've lost, old human!" He growled before hitting Arkarium hard with a shock of his own fury in the shape of a demon's head, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and taking Arkarium with it. Dureau only stood for a moment as he caught his breath before walking up to the double doors of the Mage's chamber and pushed them open. From his seat the Mage watched as the former general of his armies made an entrance. The Oblivion Knights that filled his room readied to attack, but The Mage held up his hand, telling them to stand down as Dureau walked to the center of the room._

_"Tell me why… Why did you feel the need to destroy my family? TELL ME WHY!" Dureau roared, standing firm waiting for an answer, but the only answer he received, was the Mage looking down on him and narrowing his eyes._

_"Did you honestly believe that I would let you take them?! FOR THAT I WILL TEAR YOUR DREAMS APART!" In a blur Dureau slammed his mace into the ground, making fountains of his fury tear through the ground and up the stairs leading to the platform where the Mage hovered. A ring on The Mage's hand glowed as a sphere flared around The Mage, directing the aura around it and through the window that stood behind him. The Mage's eyes seemed to smile as he held up his boney hand with glowing rings on his fingers, casting a simple attack spell that sent Dureau spinning back. But he recovered, skidding to a stop on the ground and trying the same attack, only to have it dispelled once again. _

_This time Dureau was ready for the counter attack The Mage threw back, side stepping it as it punched a hole in the wall. With a swing of his mace, Ageis launched from it and impacted the barrier, visually making it bend and turn a different color under the stress. With this new found knowledge, Dureau flashed from place to place using his Ageis as a shield to guard against the Mage's spells, time and again hurling his Demon Thrash which made the barrier around the Mage visibly weaker. But a move by Dureau was miscalculated as a spell hit him square in the face and knocked him back again._

_ Instead of moving side to side as he normally would have, he charged straight up, flitting from place to place within the sky as the Mage readied another attack when Dureau hit the Barrier full on with his fist, screaming with all his being as his own fury and the Mage's Barrier kicked up winds of hurricane force all around them. For a moment the Mage arrogantly looked up at Dureau, until the chains of his protection barrier flashed before his eyes and it began to crack, breaking as thought it were glass and the ring around his forefinger breaking in two. With the Mage now exposed, Dureau turned and hurled another Demon Thrash which was blocked when The Mage hastily cast a temporary barrier, then held his free hand forward, casting a chain binding spell from a hole within the barrier. _

_With no time to act, the chains were deflected by the use of Dureau's Ageis as a shield, but the impact was so great that it disoriented him and knocked the mace from his hands, throwing him to the ground. When he recovered to catch his breath, his gaze met his former master's, looking as though he lifted his eyebrows for a moment before summoning all his power which erupted around him in a pillar of blue light, each of the remaining rings on his fingers glowing brightly._

"Is this the end for me?" _Dureau thought, panting hard as he tried to catch his breath. Reaching up and grasping the locket that was around his neck, acting almost as his consciences so that he would remain in control of his power._

"Will I die here, having accomplished nothing? Will justice for my family be incomplete?"_ his body acted before his mind could register, yanking the locket from his neck as the mark on his face grew in size, covering his face in a black layer while the remaining fury and Ageis within his body flooded forth in an explosive stream. With a heartfelt cry, his power shot to the skies, bringing him with it as he hovered in the air for a moment and shot down with tremendous force, so much so that embers trailed from his wings as he glided down, driving his fist forward, howling in the winds as it moved. Just before impact, the Mage summoned yet another protection spell, this one many times harder than his first mal-formed one, while his eyes shot out small veins into the surrounding flesh and he empowered it. _

_The impact of the two forces meeting one another was great enough that the entire temple shuddered and rocked as a shockwave tore through the columns surrounding the room. Demon Fury and Mana flowed freely, once again kicking up hurricane force winds around them, when the power of the Mage began feeding up Dureau's arm, tearing the sleeve from his arm and shredding through the flesh of his sleek wings. The pain of his wings tearing made him want to stop, but the memories of his dead family pressed him on, shifting the force to his Ageis shield, holding on as long as he could while the light from their powers meeting began to engulf him._

"Minerva, I don't know if you will listen to a demon such as I, but please, allow me one more chance… to find justice… for my family."_ But if the answer he sought came, he couldn't hear it, as his strength finally waivered and the Mage's power hit him full force, causing an explosion that tore through the temple and parted the clouds below it, letting the sun for a brief moment shine down on Ossyria, as if to say that hope was not dead._

* * *

"Well, the only thing we're getting is these spikes in mind activity and tiny fluctuations of power siphoning readouts. Is there anything that we can do besides this?" one of the soldiers asked, looking over the readouts that meant nothing to him. Unbeknownst to them, a silent watcher sat just behind a shipment of tuning oil and something that appeared to be some sort of battery.

"We could draw stuff on it." the second said.

"No man, that's a no go on touching it; the last time I did, I ended up knocked out on the couch for two weeks with third degree burns on my hand." the first one replied, making 'J' stifle a laugh. He had infiltrated the Verne Mines to find any basis to rumors about something still very active within the Verne mines. What he found were androids wandering around almost as if they were zombies from the Mine of the Dead. As he tried to return, 'J' became lost and wound up coming to this area of the cave where some sort of egg-shaped object was having something drawn out of it.

"What was that?"One of the soldiers asked, sitting up suddenly in his chair. 'J' froze, carefully pulling the slider back on his gun so as to make sure that he wasn't heard.

"What was what?" a small noise crunched through the caves again, this time making them turn to the egg-like thing.

"I think it's coming from that thing."

"You're imagining things man.

"I'm telling you that thing made a sound!" 'J' looked over at the object in question, suddenly seeing part of the shell seem to bulge out, as though something was breaking out of it.

"Whoa! I think it moved! Quick, call General Hilla and the Master, they're gonna want to be here for this!" 'J' tried to stay hidden as he watched, still focused onto what that thing was they were so interested in, and why they seemed to be siphoning power from it.

"Master! Come quickly! There is some major activity going on with the traitor…" but the soldier didn't get to finish his sentence when whatever was inside the egg broke out of it, destroying the com system, the siphoning machine and part of the wall that was beside it.

"Ugh… what is wrong with you soldiers? Have you no discipline anymore?" The soldiers simply looked at the man that had come from inside the egg: of medium to tall height, well trimmed body, dressed in a torn up trench coat with pale, ashen skin, red eyes, a mass of long ruby red hair, and sleek black wings protruding from his back that looked as though they had badly healed from a massive injury.

"What in Ossyria is that?!" one of the soldiers asked. 'J' noticed that the man was looking around, looking to his arm where some sort of dull glow was emanating in the shape of a shield, seeming dazed almost.

"This can't be! I've heard stories about this guy and the damage the he had done to the Black Mage before the heroes had gotten to him!" the second soldier said, which made the pale man turn to the soldiers with an angry expression as though he had seen something.

"I order you to tell me, what is that you have done to me? And what is this energy that I am sensing? Is it that of the Black Mage?!" But the soldiers dodged his question, talking amongst themselves, and then began lunging at him.

"You DARE attack me?! You shall suffer for your mistake!" The pale man growled, slapping his hand to the ground where a seal appeared. Aura leapt from the ground as though it were a fountain when a giant hand rose from the seal, hitting the two soldiers hard enough that it knocked them into the wall and knocked them out. 'J' was impressed; he wanted to go out and meet him, but at the same time, he wanted to stay hidden.

"_I've never seen anyone use something that powerful, or that dangerous. Who the heck is this guy?_" But his questions would have to wait, watching the pale man stumbled around as looked to be trying to leave, only to fall on the ground and try to crawl out as if he was given a mission and not even death was going to stop him. 'J' was about to move when his foot tapped a rock, skipping it across the pebbles on the floor making the man reach for the weapon on his belt and hold it straight out towards him.

"Who's there!" the man demanded, looking as if he fought with everything he had to stay awake, despite his body wanting to do otherwise. Slowly and cautiously 'J' came out into the open, keeping his gun at the ready just in case the pale man did anything, not that it would work against someone like him.

"Calm down, I'm not your enemy. Who are you, and how did you get inside that egg?"

"Stay back!" the man growled, falling over to the side as he tried desperately to stay alert.

"Do you really think you could take me in the shape you're in? Look at you; that machine there next to you is an Energy Conductor, and was draining your power to store it in that Mithril Crystal tank. It's one of the latest inventions of the Black Wings I'm guessing."

"Energy… con… wing of… who?" the man seemed as if he were fumbling for words until something made him cough hard.

"who… are you… and how do you… know of such things?!" the man demanded.

"My name is Agent 'J' of the High Guard in Edelstein. It would be advantageous if you would join us in our cause, so let me help you." The man didn't seem to realize that 'J' had said anything, waving his head around as he tried to speak.

"No… have… no… energy…" the man sighed and collapsed to the ground hard, not moving a single muscle.

"Hey, wake up!" But no matter what 'J' did, nothing seemed to wake him, and voices were coming down the hall. The only other option was to hump this guy back to base and get him some kind of medical attention. The last thing Dureau remembered hearing, was the far off sound of a man telling him that he would get him to safely as he faded into the blackness of his own eye lids.

"_What's going on? Why am I still alive? Did Minerva grant me my last wish, and give me one more chance to avenge my fallen family?_"

* * *

"Master Clytemnestra, I bring news that could interrupt your plans." Clytemnestra opened her eyes, holding up her hand as the apparatus pulled back its metallic arms.

"Speak." She said flatly to the cloaked soldier, wearing a rather childish skull mask.

"Master, the Hero Mercedes has been spotted in and around Henesys as well as Perion and Ellinia. What should we do about this?" Clytemnestra put her slender hands to her sumptuous lips as she thought.

"Tail her, and if the opportunity arises, eliminate her. If she has indeed reawakened, then it can only mean she will be seeking out the treasure of Ellul and may very well have it with her." The soldier bowed quickly and ran out of the cave, pulling the heavy door shut behind him as he went.

"_Mercedes_ _always was the sharpest of the group. Perhaps the curse is weakening because the power within this apparatus is no longer enough to ensure that the curse stays in place. If that is true, then that can only mean the others are awakening as well. We'll need to move quickly and precisely before they are strong enough to do us harm._" She thought, when she saw Hilla hold up her communications broach, hearing voices coming from it, but was unable to hear what it was they said when it seemed the transmission was cut off.

"Hilla? What seems to be the problem?" Clytemnestra asked.

"Something has happened with the object we were draining power from. The soliders guarding it have asked that both you and I come down to see." Hilla smirked. Clytemnestra nodded, stepping away from the apparatus and following Hilla through the caves and see what it was that was so important.

"You have another matter to attend to at the Ereve Palace. I will go alone." Clytemnestra ordered as Hilla bowed and disappeared in a cloud of vapors.

* * *

Dureau grunted, turning his head this way and that trying to get the stiff feeling out of his neck and slowly opening his eyes. For a moment he looked around, picking himself up from the bed, only to put a palm to his eye trying to halt the spinning room.

"_Where have I been brought? Urgh, everything is in pain._" He thought as he massaged his forearm for a moment and then swung his feet to the floor.

"_I appear to have been brought to some sort of treatment facility. _" He thought once more, looking to his palm and noting the bandage that had been wrapped around his hand. He tried to take it off, but just reaching for his hand made him flinch.

"_Must be broken; there is surly enough pain. What happened to me? Why am I even alive?_" he asked himself, trying to stand only to become light headed and fall back onto the bed. Looking around he then found his coat and mace, quickly slipping his wings through the coat and adjusting his attire.

"_The last things I remember was attacking the Black Mage himself after the he broke our blood pact and destroyed the southern part of Leafre._" Memories of seeing the town in flames came back to him while haunting screams filled his mind. Absently he reached up to his chest for his locket, realizing that it wasn't there when his hand missed it. Quickly he looked around where he had been, under the bed, around the bed, around the bed next to him, but nothing was there.

"_My Locket! Where's My Locket?!_" quickly he checked his coat pockets, then his pants pockets, his heart sinking a little more with each failure.

"_Did I lose it during the battle?_" He closed his eyes, thinking back to the last blow that he dealt to The Mage, that being the last time that he saw his Locket.

"_No… It can't be! That was all I had to remember my family._" The realization that he must have lost his one treasure hit him, making him sit back down on his bed. He really was alone, the only one that would ever remember him. But there was this pulsating, dark energy that he could feel in the air, an energy that felt disturbingly familiar. And then his thoughts turned to that of Mastema, making him smirk slightly when he remembered that she had kissed him on the cheek just before she left to deliver the message he had written to the Heroes.

"_I wonder if they succeeded in defeating him. I knew that he was powerful, even too powerful for me, but I hoped to at least inflict some kind of wound to him for taking away what I treasured. In the end, I only managed to break the barrier and tear his robe. I was such a fool._" Once again he looked down to his hands and sighed, questions suddenly rising in his mind.

"_But how is it that I survived? The Mage would never allow someone who betrayed him to continue to live; was there another force involved?_" So many thoughts and the little bit of walking that he did suddenly brought on a splitting headache, making him grunt and pinch the temples of his head with his hand, easing the pain slightly.

"_However if I am here, then that must mean that Ossyria wasn't destroyed. So perhaps the Heroes did succeed. I should go see for myself what Ossyria has become; who knows what dangers exist now, which means that I will need my Ageis and I'm going to need it regardless. I wonder how…_" with a twist of his left hand, the Ageis pulsed on his wrist, but the light that came from it was so dim and feeble that it might have been non-existent.

"_How has my Ageis become so weak! In this state I can hardly fight at all, nor can I use any of my more powerful techniques!_" with another twist of his wrist, the glow disappeared when a thought struck him.

"_That man, the one with the hat! He doesn't seem like a danger to me, but I can't risk anything. Standing here and crying over my Ageis isn't going to make it any stronger, and with it in this state it will be many months before it is fully recovered. I need to get out of here now!_" he thought, reaching for his mace, suddenly stopped when the mace wasn't coming with him. He walked back over to it and tried again to pick it up, but it took everything that he had in his right arm just to lift it.

"Why has my mace become so heavy? I used to wield this easily with one hand. Have I truly weakened so much?" He asked out loud when voices coming from the other side of the door made him freeze; who was coming? And what would they do to him? He was in no shape to fight back, and he couldn't pick up his weapon; what was he to do?!

Dureau left the mace and crept up to the door, listening to get a bearing on whoever these people were that brought him here and if they were a threat to him. From the other side it sounded as if there were at least four people there while a low buzz of some activity in the background could be heard.

"…was looking around and that's when I found the device and that egg… thing. That's when he broke out and just wiped out the Wings that were around him. It was crazy!"

"'J', if I were a normal person I would have called you crazy. But with the Black Wings still around, there is no such thing as too crazy. Were you able to find out anything about who he is or what they were doing with him?" an authoritative female voice asked.

"No I wasn't, but he must be someone of interest to them; the battle technique that I saw him use gave me the chills. If he hadn't passed out, I never would have brought someone that powerful here to the base." Dureau squinted his eyes for a moment: were they talking about him? But then another gruff voice stared in, making Dureau listen closer.

"Could he have been part of an experiment? I mean think about what Vita was going through. To top it off we still don't really know what the Wings were doing in the mines. If he was a test subject that means he's a victim too." After the gruff voice, Dureau heard a younger woman's voice.

"The hunters and I went searching through the Mines not too long before the final battle, and happened to find a disk containing everything that the Wings had their mad scientist Gelimer working on. From what we have decoded so far… that mad man needs to be stopped." Dureau shook his head: the Black Wings were still active? How could they? The last thing that he knew, the heroes were tearing through the Wings like paper to get to The Mage when he came back to the temple.

"I'll check on him, he should be up by now." The first voice called, making Dureau run back for his mace and try to pick it up once more.

"Oh! Good you're awake; I was just coming in to check on you." 'J' said as he came into the door to see this, strange man with sleek wings struggling to pick up the mace next to his bed. He was impressed: it had taken him and another man to carry it from the mines where he had found the man to this room, but the guy was lifting it with one hand at least a few inches off the ground.

"Were you the one that brought me here?" Dureau asked, setting the mace down once more, giving up and trying to lift it.

"Yeah I was. You looked pretty banged up and I couldn't just leave you with the Black Wings. But considering what you did to them, I think it's safe to say we're on the same side. There are a lot of questions that we have, so if you be so kind as to follow me." The man said, stepping to the side of the doorway and motioning for him to step out.

"_An interrogation? I suppose I should cooperate for now since I am their prisoner. But these humans seem more curious than dangerous. _Very well, lead the way." Dureau said, quietly following 'J' through the compound almost like a prisoner without shackles. Every single person that he passed on his way kept staring at him as if they had never seen anything like him before. When they finally reached what appeared to be a command center, a man with fire red hair, someone dressed as a bear mascot, a younger woman standing next to a black panther, and a woman with an eye covering masque stood around the room.

"Wow, you really do have wings. They're so cool." The younger woman said in awe as Dureau was led to the center of the room, standing before the woman with the masque until the man with red hair walked up to him with a stern look on his face.

"What is your name? Were you sent as a spy of the Black Wings?" he asked until the person in the bear suit spoke next.

"Daren, that wouldn't make sense. None the less, keep your guard up since we still don't know who he is." The woman in the Masque looked hard at the bear and shook her head.

"There's no need to be rude to our guest. Please pardon my friend's actions; we're all a bit on edge because of rumors regarding The Black Wings resurfacing Edelstein. Who are you and how are you related to the Black Wings?" Dureau's eye brow twitched slightly once the Black Wings were mentioned, but there was no need to lie since he was no doubt a serious enemy to them for his treachery.

"If you already know of the Black Wings, there must be more that you know, so forgive me for answering a question with a question, but what do you know of me? I wouldn't know where to begin." He asked when the younger woman spoke up.

"Well, you can start with your name, and you can go from there." she said, crossing her arms and legs while leaning against the platform in the center as he took a breath.

"My name is Dureau, former second general of the Black Wings. As of right now I am not affiliated with any organization: the treacherous Black Mage solidified my will to rebel."

"What about these wings? What are you? Are these wings a genetic alteration using Enix?" 'J' asked, almost seeming skeptical.

"I am not familiar with Enix, but no, these wings are a part of me. I am a banished demon prince of the Khyune realm."

"Hold up, you were a general of the Black Mage?!" the woman in the Masque exclaimed.

"Yes, I was."

"That can't be right. History records that only one general has survived all this time after the defeat of the Black Mage 600 years ago: Orca."

"What?!" Dureau shouted making the group that surrounded him seem worried.

"_600 years?! Is that how long I've been away?! It would explain this strange place that I've come to. Does that mean that the Heroes defeated the Black Mage?_" The young woman looked over to her panther and then back to Dureau with an unconvinced look.

"Do you think that something was done to him that makes him think he's a general? Remember that one person who thought he was a violin?" she asked as her pet panther got up and padded over to Dureau, sniffing at his hand then pacing around him before shaking his head.

"If Black Jack doesn't think that he's crazy then the only other explanation is that he's telling the truth. He _is_ a demon after all and demons are known to have a very long life span." The man in the bear suit offered.

"But he could still by lying. If he's telling the truth, then that would mean that he was alive _before_ the Black Mage was sealed. But if you were a General, why did you rebel? From what I understand they were paid quite well." The woman with the masque asked. Dureau's eyes darkened, looking down to the ground while his wings drooped low.

"That is a personal matter. I have answered all you're your questions, now it is time that you answer some of mine: Who are you, and what is your connection to the Black Wings?" he growled as he looked back up as 'J' began.

"As I said to you in the mines, we are a group in Edelstein called the High Guard, formerly known as The Resistance. The one with the Masque in Claudine, the red head is Deren, Belle is the one with the Panther, and Checky is the one in the bear suit. Not long ago we took back Edelstein from the Black Wings after almost 25 years under them." 'J' replied, making Dureau clench his fist tight enough to making his skin creak.

"Then they were the ones draining my Ageis. But why would they need to do something like this? I thought you said that the Black Mage had been sealed?" Dureau growled when a man with a strong chin and bulky build walked up to them, just in time to hear Dureau's last sentence.

"He was, but was defeated by 'The Guardians of Ossyria' 18 years ago."

"WHAT?!" The shout made them all reach for their weapons, ready to fight until they calmed enough to realize that Dureau looked more saddened than anything.

"As of right now it seems he's been replaced with another person, and with everything that's been happening, it indicates that whoever this new person is, is going to try and destroy all of Ossyria again because of…" but the man's voice faded off when he saw a sick smile played across Dureau's face, wisps of black energy curling from his body.

"That is excellent news. I still have the chance to make him suffer for what he's done to me even if it isn't directly!" he growled.

"You're mighty but crazy, but at least we're on the same side." Chuckled Deren when another tall skinny man walked in. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation, but Dureau was set on his decision while his eyes became wild and focused

"_Black Mage, prepare yourself. Once I have my strength again, you will be made to die for your crimes against me!_"

* * *

Yes, getting past the guards wasn't easy but not impossible, especially for the king of Thieves, Phantom. However the hard part was going to be getting passed the guard that was at the entrance to the great hall: he appeared to be very vigilant, jumpy even as the people walked into the hall. There were windows, but they were all solid glass and each had a guard stationed before them, inside and out. The only other way in was through the roof, but as far as quiet that was the least favorable option. And then as one of the soldiers walked by, it gave him an idea: as quickly and quietly as he could, he weaved his way through the crowd even snatching a coin or two from each person as he went until he came to the Knight's Training center.

Inside he found the Nobleese garb; a simple white, one piece training robe, and quickly put it over his clothes, taking off his fez and letting it dangle from his neck behind his head, making his way to the hall. Blending in wasn't going to be the problem for him; it was hoping that he at least looked similar to the crowd around him. Thankfully, he managed to find a few others that were dressed similarly to the Nobleese robes and subsequently passed through the doors without incident, ducking out from the crowd once inside where he saw the coliseum-like seating and the partial dome that still loomed over the seats. Despite being partially gone, the basic outline still existed, accented with trees and various hanging vines and mosses.

"_This is… I know what this used to be! This was Aria's court! Though it is much more open then I remember. Perhaps it fell after the battle of Ereve. _" He thought sadly, before disappearing once again when he saw that a soldier was coming for him. It wasn't long until he stood on a platform of sorts next to a pillar above the seating area. From where he sat, he scanned through the crowd and suddenly recognized something one of the people was wearing.

"_Is that the Blade of Flames? Who is that wearing it? And who could possess that much power besides myself?_" he thought, when regal trumpets sounded and the buzz of the crowd quieted down. Phantom looked around the room again, and then saw the mass of blond hair that he knew so well of Mercedes sitting next to… was that Athena?! The last time he remembered seeing her was just as a whimpering child that cried when she couldn't use Mercedes' Bow Guns. But dear Minerva, she turned out to be quite a beautiful woman. And then his attention was drawn to the stage where four well dressed individuals walked onto the stage, followed by a woman with blue tinted hair, and then a beautiful woman with cascades of blond curls hanging from her head. Phantom had to swallow hard and take a second look: she looked so much like Aria that he almost called out to her.

"People of Ossyria, thank you for coming today. To this day, I know that we all still struggle, even with the periodic threats received by the cells of Black Wings. But we still stand strong, and the spirit of Minerva, though she may no longer walk among us, still lives on in the hearts of us. But this day, we do not come to think of what has been, we come to see what will be: this day, I Empress Cygnus, present to you my daughter, and your princess, Ashura. This day marks the beginning of her journey to accept the powers from the sacred Feather Dragon, Shinsoo of Ereve." When she finished speaking Cygnus turned making Phantom snap to what was behind her where a knight walked with a young girl. His arm was around her waist, helping her stand as he led her out onto the stage where she was greeted with cheers and whistles.

Phantom looked closer at the girl, seeing that her skin looked rather pale in comparison to the others, realizing and remembering when Aria first formed the contract with Shinsoo and how weak she seemed afterwards. With the help of the man beside her, Ashura stood to her full height and was about to speak when another woman's voice cut her off.

"Wait! I would like to dispute this." A hush fell over the crowd fallowed by gasps and a low buzz. From the entrance, a young looking woman walked with soldiers all around her, dressed in a figure hugging blue dress and a mass of brunette hair.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt this, but I can keep my peace no longer; my name is Hilde, and _I_ am the true heiress to the Empresses throne." The buzz from the crowd became louder as the woman looked around her slightly, when Phantom saw the ever so slight upward curve of her lips: was this woman bluffing?

"That is a lie; the empresses and emperors have always been presented as such without dispute. How can you come here so say such a thing?" the blue haired woman asked as Hilde looked up and tossed back her hair slightly. Eckhart leaned over to Hawkeye who stood next to him.

"Where is Shinsoo? Shouldn't he be here?"

"I honestly don't know. The last I saw him he was still resting in the courtyard. If he were here he could clear this up for us right now." Hawkeye whispered back, looking forward once again to Hilde as she continued.

"So you would like to believe. However let me turn you attention to a tale that you of Ereve have so conveniently forgotten; a tale of the Empress Aria during the time of the Black Mage's rising." Phantom took a breath as his grip around his cane tightened at the mention of her name.

"As I am sure you are aware, there was no historical record left after the Black Mage rose to power. However there was one legend that slipped through of a gem that the Empress Aria held onto; Skaia, the lost treasure of Empress Aria. It was said to be passed down through the generations of rulers, protecting them and endowing them with many wondrous powers." Irena stepped forward, her hand twitching as she fought the urge to reach for her bow.

"There is no doubt that Empress Aria indeed possessed the Skaia, but there is no record, Legend or Historical, that tells of the powers held by the Skaia." The statement seemed to rattle Hilde slightly as her tone of voice became agitated.

"I stand before you with proof of my blood lineage, and you would deny me my right over something as simple as semantics? I am the one who possesses the Skaia, not Cygnus, and certainly not Ashura your princess." Hilde said, taking a breath and seeming to calm herself.

"When Empress Aria was killed by the Black Wings, it was said that the gem was lost as the old tales have no doubt told. However, do you really think that something such as the Skaia would simply be written off as a loss? Do you think that something such as the Skaia would be left to sit in a tomb? It is complete rhetoric. The Skaia was protected for hundreds of years, quietly passed down through the generations until it was given to me so that I could reveal it to you." Eckhart stood and stood next to Irena, his cloak ominously covering his arms and body.

"Is that your argument? That Skaia was simply passed down quietly?"

"That is the Truth, Knight Eckhart." Hilde replied calmly.

"Then how can we be sure that the Skaia you are allegedly holding isn't a fake?" Hilde lowered her head slightly as Phantom upon his perch watched that same smirk return to her face, opening her hands and holding up a dark red, pointed gem on a delicate gold chain.

"That is a very good question, Knightess Oz, but ultimately a foolish one. Skaia is indeed a well known name, but only a few have heard what it was said to look like, and even fewer have actually seen it. And those of you that have seen what it would look like are all here today. So how can you stand there and tell me that the Skaia which I hold in my hand is a fake? Don't you recognize the jewel sitting here in my palm? Is this not the Skaia?" Hawkeye lost his patience and walked roughly to the front.

"Don't you hear your own voice? Gems can be forged, recreated even. There is no way to tell if the jewel you hold in your hand in the real thing for certain."

"I'm sorry, Knight Hawkeye, but were you alive 600 years ago?" Hawkeye swallowed and back down slightly, letting Hilde smile at his lack of response.

"Since you were not there 600 years ago, your opinion on the validity of this gem is of no importance. However I have yet to show you another point that validates my right as empress. I ask you now, why is it that Princess Ashura is so frail? If she were indeed to the heir of such power from the Feather Dragon Shinsoo, she wouldn't be overpowered by his strength. Empress, you yourself should know that she wasn't meant to wield that power stolen so many years ago." Eckhart stole a look in to the crowd, quickly zeroing in on Athena for a moment who shook her head in response to his silent question. Mihile gently lowered Ashura to the stage and reached for his sword.

"I will not stand for such insolence!" he bellowed.

"Was I being Insolent? Has speaking the truth after 600 years become a sign of betrayal? If anyone has done such a terrible deed, it is the Empress and her knights who have betrayed all of Ossyria." Mihile was about to draw his sword when Cygnus set a hand on his gauntlet and shook her head slightly.

"Think on what I have said. Isn't it your duty Empress Cygnus to do what is best for the people of Ossyria?" Cygnus swallowed hard: what was she to do? For the longest time she had been told the reason she was so weak when she first began absorbing Shinsoo's power was because she had been born weak, and that in addition, the power of Shinsoo was rebuilding her body so that she could withstand such power. Now that power had been passed on to Ashura and she was suffering the same fate that she had so many years ago. Was this truly what the weakness meant? That she really wasn't the true heir to the throne? And then there was the fact that even after she had become the Empress, that she never fully absorbed Shinsoo's power.

"She's right." Cygnus said.

"Empress please…"

"No Mihile, she is right. I was born weak, and even after making the contract with Shinsoo, I was never able to fully absorb his powers. If Hilde has brought evidence to dispute my validity as Empress, then we should at least let her speak, otherwise we are no better than the Black Mage."

"Lady Cygnus please, what are you…"

"I have to do what is right Nienheart! I have asked the world, and everyone within in it to fight for me while I sit here under their protection. If I've done that without any real authority or qualification, I am no better than a tyrant." Tears began to form in her eyes as Mihile walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Even from his high up perch, Phantom could see that she was beginning to crack under the stress of knowing that she possibly was never really the empress to begin with, but despite the tears in her voice, her eyes remained firm.

"_That is definitely Aria's Bloodline; Maybe not directly, but certainly she has the same fortitude that she had. You would do your great aunt Aria proud Cygnus._" He thought as Hilde continued. Looking closer however, Phantom suddenly recognized her, making his blood begin to boil.

"I believe this argument has been drug on far longer than it should have. From what I understand, the Skaia will glow in the hands of the next Empress. Do you wish to test your mettle, Princess Ashura? As you can see plainly, it shines in my hands, but will it shine in yours?" With every last ounce of strength she could muster, Ashura stood to her feet and held out her hands as Hilde walked to her and placed the gem in her hands. Tense moments passed as they waited for something to happen, even the smallest of flickers would prove that Ashura was to be the next Empress. Unfortunately the gem remained dull, not even giving off a glint of light as it sat in her hands.

"Not even a glimmer in the hands of Ashura. What more proof do you need people of Ossyria?" The last of Ashura's strength left her as she collapsed to the ground as everyone surrounded her.

"I'm sorry mother, I really hoped that it would shine for you."

"It's alright Ashrua, it's alright." Cygnus encouraged as the knights offered their words of encouragement as well.

"It seems your hounds are trying so hard to ignore the truth that has been so plainly shown to them. Everyone, how long will we let this child play at being our next empress? You are nothing but a pretender to Aria's throne, and I alone hold the Skaia, the lost jewel of Empress Aria." A low buzz of mumbles rose from the audience as they all argued amongst themselves of what they believed to be the truth.

"Do you all see, I am the true heir of Ereve." Hilde smirked as she looked back at the broken Ashura who was surrounded by the Knights, clinging to her mother.

"What will we do now? What will become of us?" Ashura asked as Cygnus held her close.

"_I can keep silent no longer. I really hope you're ready Renault._ Hold it!" Phantom called, his voice echoing through the hall much louder than he intended making everyone stop their talking instantly.

"It's a delightful story you tell Hilde, but I believe that you've forgotten some things." Hilde's eyes went wide and swallowed hard, visibly becoming worried. Phantom took a slow breath and fed mana into his left eye, as the method within it came to life, the only gift he had receive from his master, Raven.

"First and foremost, there's the bloodline. Empress Aria had no children of her own. And the only other person who's right it was to take the throne, was her sister whom it passed on to. Cygnus here is her very great niece, and Ashura is the next generation of that sister. You on the other hand, seem as if you're trying to pass yourself off as something you're not. Your identity is questionable at best." The comment made Hilde reel slightly before clenching her hands and yelling out to the air.

"Who dares question me?! Show yourself!" Phantom merely smiled as this woman was now obviously shaken, whatever her plan may have been vanishing before her very eyes.

"Second, you use the Princess's weakness to question her right as next in line for the throne. That weakness is proof of her absorbing Shinsoo's power, since one is always weak when they first begin to absorb it. And finally, you claim to have in your hand the lost treasure of Ereve? The legendary gem Skaia? That is nothing more than a rumor created for the sole purpose of drawing out the Phantom Theif. The Skaia was nothing more than a bobble, a trinket that the Empress Aria favored." Hilde looked around her, seeing that everyone's eyes were beginning to hold doubts about her story, making her want to run as she backed up. But she couldn't run: her orders were absolute and she could not return empty handed.

"What proof do you have of these lies! How can we believe…" But her words were cut off when a strong wind blew through the arena making everyone cover their eyes against the dirt and dust that flew in the air. When is calmed, there before the stage knelt a man in a white cloak, holding in his hand a cane. The knights surrounding the Empress and Princess quickly reached for their weapons while the soldiers standing around Hilde lowered their stance and pointed their spears at him.

"Put away your parlor tricks, they're making me nauseous. The real Skaia was trusted to the hands, of Phantom." He said, pulling the cloak from over his clothes with a flashy swing of his arm. Hilde became pale, backing up slightly as even more of her plan was crumbling before her eyes. Mercedes and Athena both looked at him for a moment after he had pulled his cloak off, their faces lighting up in a huge smile: Athena because she had always had a crush on him in the past, Mercedes because she now knew she wasn't the only one that had come back from the brink of death.

"PHANTOM!" the two of them screamed, while the rest of the girls and women there swooned over him as he stood there with a boyish grin on his face. For a minute he looked around him, waving to those that cheered before turning his attention back to the Skaia dangling from Hilde's hand, holding up his fingers with a card in between them. With a sweep of his hand, he threw the card forward and as he let it go, the hazy image of a giant knight stood around him, swinging its giant sword and cutting through the gem, breaking it into dust.

"Are we going to keep playing this game Hilde? Or should I call you, Hilla?" Spinning his cane in his hand, he slapped it against his palm making a blue glow surround him as blue orbs rose behind him, turning red as they embedded themselves into a seal that appeared behind him. With a sweep of his hand, his cane flashed with a bright light, taking the form of a spear while the shadows of his body glowed with a golden light, making the ground shake as he widened his stance. With the final spin on his cane, he held it forward as a large seal appeared behind him from which four large wings spread wide while his cane took on a bow shape.

"Why don't you show the good people of Ossyria your _true_ colors." Hilla bowed her head, shaking in rage and embarrassment as her body began to glow with a blood red light.

"Do you think you flashy little show scares me? I've come this far!" The brunette color from her hair burned away as make-up and lip gloss burned through her simple appearance. The elegant dress she was wearing became tatters, exposing the revealing skirt and tight halter that she wore, while her staff appeared in hand. Behind her, the faces and skin of the soldiers melted away, revealing her Skeleton army. The Masters, the Advance Masters, The Guardian's children and the High Elders all quickly surrounded her, ready to strike as Hilla simply chuckled.

"I was so close too, but you had to come along a ruin such a good game. But it seems you already have me far outnumbered. Fine, I'll let you keep your empress and your weak little princess for a while longer. But don't think you've won: Ossyria is already in our hands." She said with a seductive tone, and turned to leave.

"HILLA!" a feral scream echoed, making everyone freeze again, looking around to see where the voice was coming from when the space between Phantom and Hilla became a cloud of dust as the ground buckled. As the dust cleared, huge black wings rose from the dust while black feathers drifted down to the ground. When it cleared completely, a man standing with a leather sleeveless trench coat, red marks curling up on his cheeks stood in the center. His eyes were wild, his skin slightly ashen and his black hair long and untamed.

"Who are you?" Hilla asked with a hint of distain.

"We may have only known each other for a short time, but I'm surprised that you've forgotten me so soon, Hilla." He growled. Hilla studied him for a moment before turning back to him and putting a hand on her hip.

"Oh yes, now I remember: It's so nice to see you again, Dragon, or should I say, Yoshumari." Yoshumari grit his teeth, holding out his hand as black power surged from his hand and created a sword made purely of that power, humming and making the skin of those near enough itch with static.

"Don't patronize me. I WILL KIL ALL OF YOU!" he shouted wildly, forcing his wings down hard as he shot for her. Hilla simply laughed, slamming her staff down on the ground disappearing in a whirlwind of blackened power.

"NO!" Yoshumari screamed as he slammed the sword into the ground, making it buckle under his swing. As Yoshumari stood, he almost seemed weak, stumbling slightly as he did and dissipated his Dark Nalcana into the air. Cygnus squinted her eyes to try and see through the clouds of dust that had been kicked up, recognizing him since she didn't get a good look at him before.

"Yoshumari?" she called, but the only response that she received was his untamed, magenta, dragon-like eyes looking back at her.

"_Yoshumari, pray tell hath happened to thee?_" Helen thought when Yoshumari lifted his wings and disappeared into the skies, sounding as though a cannon had gone off as he flew. Ashura's attention was brought back to the ground when she heard Phantom walking up the stage and smiling at her, though that smile seemed sad. Phantom looked Ashura in the eyes, briefly seeing Aria in them.

"I prefer a woman with a smile on her face." Phantom remarked, making both Cygnus and Ashura smile at him with that same shy smile that he had seen Aria give him so many times before. An upward wind unexpectedly blew around Phantom, cloaking him in a veil of cards that shone in the light as he disappeared, making them cover their eyes again from the dust. Ashura looked up for a moment, seeing the large elegant ship in the air when she felt something in her hand, looking down to see a deep blue gem on a gold chain resting in her hand.

"When did he… it's the Skaia." High above them, Phantom reappeared on the bow of the ship, crossing his arms with his signature boyish grin.

"I suppose they'll all be expecting a hero now. Heh, I better give them what they want. Renault, Get us outta here."

"Aye aye Master Phantom." Renault called, reaching for the throttle and easing the ship into motion away from Ereve. On the ground Mercedes shook her head and laughed to herself, her spirits lifted as she left with Athena.

"Oh! Mercedes, wait for me here for a bit, I forgot something." Athena called, as she ran back into the arena. For the moment, Mercedes decided to stand next to a hedge just out of the path of the exiting crowd when she felt and hand slip around her waist and around her mouth, dragging her back with a hard jerk. For a moment she struggled against this person, but then felt a surge of power wash over her: she remembered this feeling, and she knew it far too well for her liking; it was Black Magic.

"Give me the Mistelteinn!" a voice growled in her ear. Mercedes swallowed hard, driving her elbow into the gut of whoever was holding her and breaking free of his hold then reached for her guns. They were still heavy for her, but she managed to hold them up easily perhaps because of the adrenalin she felt. She pulled the trigger, firing first one, and then the other at the person who then hurled a spell to counter her. Luckily she was able to dive out of the way just as the spell was to hit, but her arrows missed giving the person time to hurl another spell at her. Mercedes ducked just as the spell was about to hit, rolling onto her back and pulling the trigger on her guns, firing arrow after arrow at the assailant only to have them slapped out of the way, rolling away just as another spell came crashing down on her.

"_This isn't good, I can't beat this guy like this: If I was still an order 200 he would be gone by now. I have to think, what can I do…_" but her thoughts were interrupted when someone behind her shouted.

"GET DOWN!" Instantly she obeyed, laying flat on the ground as the sound of mechanical parts clanked together and an eruption of arrows hurtled through the air like gun fire, piercing through the assailant and pinning him against one of the trees. As soon as the arrows stopped, Athena and a young man came running up to her.

"Your Highness, are you alright? Latimer, check the target." Athena commanded as another person ran up to them.

"Yes Athena I'm fine, but who is that?" Latimer turned around with a shaking head, pulling up part of the person's folded cloak to reveal a shining Black Wings badge.

"This was a Black Wings soldier."

"If they came after you here, then that means they know about your reappearance." Athena exclaimed, turning to the person beside her with worried eyes.

"Which also means that must know about or are looking for Ellul! Quickly, we need to return there, or else everything will be destroyed. The Elders have been thawed, but they are still very weak: they don't stand a chance." Mercedes hooked her guns on her belt, grabbing Athena's hands and folding her own over hers as a light surrounded them.

"Athena! Where are you taking her?!" The man shouted as he reached for them and Latimer began running for them.

"Eckhart, it's alright. Go and get the others; meet me on the north side of Ellinia as soon as you can!" she called as the two of them disappeared into thin air. Within moments, Mercedes and Athena were standing before the waterfall hidden entrance to Ellul, where sure enough a few dozen Black Wings soldiers were, no doubt searching for the entrance. Mercedes grabbed her bow guns which flared brightly as the Spirit Arrows came to life while Athena reached for her bow and drew a Spine Arrow.

"Can you keep up with me?" Mercedes asked with a smirk as Athena smiled back, and both of them charged into battle.

* * *

A week had gone by since Luminous had injured Lania; thankfully she had awakened and her wounds were healing even though he knew little of healing spells. But that's not what concerned him: it were the strange impulses that he had to harm her, even when he was trying as best he could to heal her wounds. He even went so far as to learn and try some simple healing spells to speed up the healing process. But there was something else, something that wasn't right about his magic that he felt ever since he had been found by Lania 18 years ago. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it just didn't feel right.

"_I'll have to find someone who can possibly show me what it is that I'm missing. If I don't learn to control these urges, Lania may be the one I hurt the most._" He thought, bringing up a tray with some food on it where Lania turned to him and smiled as he entered the room.

* * *

Clytemnestra cruised into the room where the egg-like stone had been, looking over the destruction that lay all around then looking to the soldiers who were just coming to.

"Master! We were getting ready to detain him when…" but their sentence would never be finished as Clytemnestra quickly raised her hand, and the two that were standing there becoming nothing more than little bits of ash skating across the floor. Angrily she walked to the remains of the egg, putting a hand on its wall, clenching her fist until the thick wall crushed under her grip.

"At least now we know that it wasn't merely a stone." Magnus said with a overconfident swagger.

"It was _him_ that was in here. I'd know that Ageis anywhere." Clytemnestra seethed making Magnus raise an eyebrow.

"Ageis? How… The traitor?! How do you know about him? You're not old enough to know about him, unless…" But 's voice trailed off into silence as Clytemnestra looked back at her, whispers rising in the air around them both for a moment, darkening the air until it felt like it were pressing in all around them, dissipating as quickly as it had come.

"For now, we'll let the traitor be. As he stands right now, he poses no threat." She said, turning around and walking out of the mine with Magnus close behind.

"Leave him be? But wont that come back to bite us eventually?" Clytemnestra turned and looked at Magnus once more, slower this time, but still with agitated eyes making Magnus swallow hard forget about pressing further for answers.

"How did you know I was here Magnus? Didn't you have your own mission to complete?" Clytemnestra asked.

"I did have my own mission to complete, but when I felt a spike in power I came here to investigate and instead find you with what remains of his protective shell." Magnus answered, walking with her as he was returning to his duty. Now that the traitor had returned, it would only be a matter of time until they would meet face to face once again.

* * *

**Changed the mistake with where Hilla was**


	4. Chapter 3: A Dark in the Light

Chapter 3: A Dark in the Light

"_This has to stop now. There's no telling how long I'll be able to hold off these urges before something happens_." Luminous thought, watching as Lania slept beside him with her arms around him. Yes, she was well aware of what had happened, and even at his saying that he was going to leave to keep her safe, she _insisted_ that she was going to stay with him no matter what happened.

For the past few days he had been trying to remember some of the spells that he had learned as a child, but everything that he _did_ remember was basic training, was extremely weak, or ended up becoming that of a shadow spell. And it was that shadow magic he feared: every time that it was activated, the urges to hurt Lania became stronger with the addition of wanting to destroy everything he saw. Another question that weighed heavily on his mind is whether or not he wanted to even continue trying to use his light magic since the shadow magic was becoming easier and easier to use with each passing day. Finally, he could stand it no longer and walked out on the balcony of their simple home, looking down into a small pool of water that served as a bird bath, putting his fingers on the side of his head and swallowing hard.

"_I still find it hard to believe that my right eye has become that of The Mage. Was his darkness within me all this time? And why now of all times would it choose to manifest itself? The seal I activated was supposed to last for thousands of years; could the spell have been reversed?_" Absently he dipped his fingers into the water and swished it around, obscuring his reflection as he pondered what it was he should do until Lania sleepily leaned against the door, rubbing her eye in half asleep state.

"Luminous? What's wrong love?" she mumbled. Luminous chuckled when he turned back to her and pulled the blanket she had brought further up her shoulders.

"I'm just having trouble sleeping is all; come, let's return to bed." He said, kissing her forehead and trying to quiet the thoughts that raced through his mind, telling himself that he would seriously worry about it in the morning. Then he could decide what it was that he wanted to do. For now, he would just sleep and revel in the warmth that Lania gave him.

* * *

It was all so strange and awkward for Mercedes: her student, Athena Peirce, was now the master as she tried to regain the power she once had in the fields surrounding Henesys. She had managed to build up her mana enough that she could now use her Spirit Storm, a powerful shot that would drive itself through multiple enemies in a single line. As it stood for the moment however, she could only use it sparingly since her Spirit Arrows still used quite a bit of power to keep it ignited. Mercedes was also now able to sustain her Natural Surge to boost her power, but again only for short periods of time.

The one thing that surprised her most was the apparent foul attitude of most everyone that she met within Ossyria; it was shocking, appalling even. Most of the people she encountered were more interested in making themselves supremely famous then actually protecting those that were weaker than they.

"How is it that the people of Ossyria have become so self-absorbed that they refuse to help anyone but themselves? I even witnessed and helped a young Ninja with a broken leg who was passed by many a priest as he lay there begging for help." Mercedes asked Dumia; it was her turn that day to help Mercedes out in her training and showing her around the new Ossyria.

"Recently some very powerful scrolls disappeared from the hold in Ereve, after which a mass of wickedly powerful weapons, armor and clothes appeared." She guessed as Vondra huffed.

"Most of the people I've talked to say it's because they want the same fame as our parents, trying to use their constant training as a way to gain fame. They've even gone so far as to make a race out of the ranks, turning them into a joke." She answered, putting her elbows on the table where they sat under the shade of Dumia's mecha.

"I still feel as though this world has lost a lot of what it stood for once." Mercedes said mournfully.

"You have no idea." Latimer chuckled sarcastically as he sat down with them.

"Latimer; where have you been? I was looking all over to try and find you." Vondra barked as he sat down.

"Out on a scouting mission. There have been reports of more Black Wings popping up in around Edelstein again. So far none of them have caused any trouble, and none of them seem to be trying to take over, but their presence is disturbing."

"The Black Wings have returned?" Mercedes asked suddenly, turning around from watching the people walk through the Ellinia Market Place, mentally scanning each one for signs of their Black Magic affinity.

"They've never left. According to what Aran said, they were in disarray after you Heroes had sealed the Black Mage and were almost extinct save for rumors and supposed sightings. Their return to power was slow as they researched to bring The Mage back. Recently however, it was as if they had anticipated his defeat. According to my mother Helen, for a year they seemed a little disorganized, but soon faded into the background and shadows, silently gaining back their power as we find them for Minerva knows what." Latimer explained, trying to hide himself as best he could when a group of passing girls waved at him from across the road.

"What about their leaders? If they've remained somewhat organized then they must have kept some form of hierarchy." Mercedes asked. Dumia shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"No one knows. On the missions I've gone out with my dad, some of the cell members that we managed to find always clam up when we try to question them about their leaders, while others only whisper about how 'his eyes are everywhere' and then activate a self-destructive hex. "

"So then, it seems that we're going to have to talk to these Black Wings in person." A smooth male voice said as Phantom sauntered into the open and leaned against a door post.

"Oh! Phantom, I didn't even know you were there." Latimer laughed nervously. After his stunt at the palace of Ereve, there had been sightings of him periodically all over Ossyria as well as visiting a select few people from time to time. Chief among them were the Guardian's children and the Empress. Vondra chuckled and shook her head.

"Amateur." She mumbled when Phantom held up one of her daggers on the tip of his finger.

"I'm afraid you are the amateur, young lady." He smiled making Vondra reach to her side for it, finding nothing there.

"How did you…" she was interrupted by Phantom holding up his finger to his lips as he handed it back to her.

"Now, what was this you were saying about the Black Wings?" he asked and he sat down next to Mercedes, her cheeks flaring red as she tried to hide her face under her long hair.

"Due west of here is a mining village called Edelstein. A little under 20 years ago, our parents, The Guardians of Ossyria, defeated The Black Mage in a plain behind that village. Before that, Edelstein was a major hub for the Black Wings, mostly because the Verne Mines happened to be rich in Rue, or Mithril Crystal. It's an excellent mana conductor when refined even a little for use in The Mage's attempt in destroying Ossyria. More recently there have been reports of Black Wing appearing in and around there again." Dumia said, lacing her fingers together and putting them on her head.

"Have you been able to find out their purpose?" Phantom asked, the air around him becoming agitated as he looked Dumia hard in the eyes.

"Not yet; so far the High Guard scouts have only reported they are there and not much else. Other scouts have been sent back to the mine to check, but nothing too strange has been found." Vondra answered. Cradling his chin in his hand, Phantom looked off into the distance and sighed as he thought about his next course of action.

"_As I thought. People of this caliber can't gather important information that is useful at all._ I see, well, it was very pleasant talking to you, but I must be on my way." He said, standing and bowing politely, leaving a card face down on the table as he left.

"You're planning on going to Edelstein aren't you?" Mercedes accused, making Phantom stop and look down at his feet, trying to hold back the small tear in the corner of his eye.

"_You know me all too well Mercedes._" he thought. But he gathered himself before turning around with his trademark boyish smirk and struck a pose.

"Mercedes, do you honestly believe that is where I am heading? What could I possibly gain from going there when all there are is rumors and unconfirmed reports?" Mercedes only raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly with a 'not-buying-it' look on her pleasant face.

"You know I never could resist a pretty face. Yes, I am going and if you wish, you may come with me." He finally said, at which Mercedes instantly got up and walked over to him when she looked back at the others still at the table.

"Aren't you coming as well?" she asked. Dumia quickly clambered up her mecha, starting it up once again and walking after them even before she had fully buckled herself in.

"What about Patty?" Vondra asked.

"Yes, what about me? I was just coming to look for you." Patricia said, quickly informed on what they were about to do when a gust of wind filled the branches from above making them sway and spread as the Lumiere descended amidst them, lowering the small pod from the front of the ship.

"All aboard!" Phantom called; he, Vondra, Patricia, Latimer and Mercedes crowding into the two person pod that hauled them up while Dumia looked up from below.

"Will that thing even carry my mech?" she called through the external com system.

"Yes of course. The Lumiere may be an elegant air ship, but it isn't just for looks." Phantom called over the roar of the engines. Dumia swallowed, crouching as far as she could while activating the boosters on the back before launching into the air, landing as gently as she could on the deck of the ship, at least as gentle as a ten ton exo-suit could, before shutting it down and getting out.

"You seem to handle your machine with quite a lot of skill young lady." Phantom complemented as he led them all inside the ship.

"Years of practice under one of the best: speaking of which, I can introduce him to you since we are heading to Edelstein." Dumia smiled, giggling a bit. Phantom chuckled approvingly, as his guests went inside and the Lumiere hovered into the skies, turning its elegant helm to the west and easing into motion.

* * *

"It's been three weeks; I have trained day after day and yet I still can't regain even a fraction of the power I once commanded!" Dureau shouted, slamming the lighter mace that Brighton had made for him onto the ground.

"Well, really the only thing that is different is that you aren't with the Black Wings anymore. And besides, the attacking skills you have, what did you call it?"

"Demon Lash."

"Right, that; it's already twice as powerful as some of the battle mages that Deren has been training, not to mention that deadly spinning scythe you're able to produce." Brighton said with a smile, but Dureau wasn't amused in the slightest.

"I am still nowhere near the power that I once commanded. Perhaps if I had stayed longer within that egg 'J' had found me in, I would have lost _all_ of my power. But as it stands now, these abilities are all I can support. Curse the Black Mage to the depths." Dureau growled; not only was he unable to get his power back to its original level, but he was now no longer able to exact his vengeance since The Mage was obliterated by The Guardians and would have to settle for a pale imitation in whoever was leading the Black Wings now.

"Maybe you just need another motivator? For the longest time your motivation was to kill the Black Mage for what he had done to your…"

"Do not speak of them Claudine!" Dureau interrupted, absently reaching for his locket, still unable to remember that it no longer hung around his neck.

"Sorry, but I really think that a different reason for getting your power back is what you need." Claudine offered making Dureau chuckle to himself. What other reason was there besides getting revenge for his family? One of Checky's students came walking hastily into the base, his face red and whole body tense.

"Claudine, something really has to be done about that creature in the back gardens; there have been four others that just came back injured. Please, we have to do something about it."

"James, there is nothing that we can do. I've even asked some of the more powerful Archers and Ninja to try and eliminate that creature, but there is nothing that we can do." Dureau's interest was pricked: maybe this creature would be the one that he needed to defeat in order to get his power back.

"What creature are you talking about?" he asked, trying to hide his excitement.

"There is a strange purple creature that has been hiding in the back gardens and when anyone gets near where it is, it will jump out and attack them, disappearing again until another person walks by." Dureau looked as though he were shaking, a small smile spreading across his face as he pulled on his fingerless gloves once more and the Ageis hummed to life on his arm, though still quite weak.

"Take me to this beast." He said excitedly. Once there, Dureau walked quietly though the gardens, listening for any sign of the creature or periodically kneeling down to examine some small paw prints in the dirt. Just as he was about to stand back up, something leapt from the bushes to his right giving him just enough time to drive his wings down and push him out of the way as the creature's sharp claws barely missed him, disappearing into another bush. Before the creature could get away Dureau swung his mace hard, sending a terrifying streak of black power that tore through the bush and sent the creature flying.

Before it had time to correct itself Dureau was already upon it, swinging his mace hard as an arc of his power flared from it and hit the creature again making it tumble across the ground. With a hard beat of his wings, Dureau glided after it when the creature dug its claws into the ground and lunged at him once again with claws extended baring its teeth. But just as it was about to attack, the creature closed its mouth and its eyes went wide, giving Dureau the time he needed to swing at the creature only to miss as it spread its small wings and streaked to the ground out of the way, the symbol on its head beginning to glow with a bright light.

"_Why does this person's power feel so familiar?_" the cat-like creature thought to itself as it swung its paw making arcs of power streak at Dureau who easily swept them aside with the appearance of a large black and red scythe. Dureau lunged for the cat again, swinging the scythe down which became a whirl of sharp edges, sparking off the ground as he swung. The impact sent the cat skidding to the side as it struggled to get to its feet when a look of recognition seemed to light up its face.

"Master Dureau!" the cat shouted, making him stop his next swing mere inches away from its body, the scythe blade aimed for the cat's heart.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?!" Dureau demanded, when the cat suddenly lunged at him, transforming to what appeared to be a human and knocked him to the ground, the young woman wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Master Dureau! You're alright!" she said as Dureau dissipated his power, unsure of who it was that was hugging him so tightly and was about to pull her off when she transformed back into a cat form.

"Master you have no idea how many days and nights I worried about you, wondering if you had made it out of the temple alive!" the cat purred.

"You still haven't answered my question; who are you?" he asked again as a memory deep in his mind made him remember a situation similar to this one when he had first encountered the one who would later be his Lieutenant.

"You mean you don't recognize me? It's me, Mastema!" she squeaked, curling up on his lap and wrapping her paws around his hand, licking his wrist.

"Mastema? You're alive? But how? It's been over 600 years since I last saw you." Dureau asked as he sat up and peeled Mastema away from his wrist, setting her down before him making her get a look of discontentment on her face.

"I went to go find the Heroes as you had instructed me, and just after I gave them your letter, Arkarium sprung a surprise attack. I tried fighting back, holding him off just long enough for the Heroes to go through after giving them the letter, but it wasn't enough." Mastema reached to her side and parted her fur to reveal a badly healed scar.

"He wounded me pretty deeply, and I was cast from the temple all the way to the ground to this continent before anyone had begun inhabiting it and took on my original cat form. Luckily for me a kind human took me in and even though he was no healing specialist, he bandaged my wounds and fed me until I could walk on my own again. I'm still finding it hard to believe that you're actually alive; I searched for any sign of you all this time. I just knew that you couldn't fall victim to The Mage's spells, I just knew it!" Mastema looked away and drew the back of her paw across her eye drying a thankful tear away.

"Mastema, your loyalty is reassuring. But how do I know that you are indeed Mastema, my subordinate and not just some trick of the Black Wings?" Mastema closed her eyes and looked away slightly. Even after all the time that she had been under him, he still saw her as his subordinate and it hurt. Didn't he see that he meant more to her than just her commanding officer?

"Do you remember what you did after we first met? I thought for sure that I was caught, but you simply turned and went another direction, leading the soldiers that were with you away from me." Dureau nodded, getting back to his feet and sliding the mace handle through the belt on his coat.

"Yes I do remember."

"And do you remember what it was that you said to me after I had told you what Magnus had done to me?" Mastema pressed, finally able to face him again after reeling from the heart stinging words he had said to her.

"'Mastema, from this moment you are my lieutenant'. I now have no doubts that you are the Mastema that I know." Dureau replied, kneeling to one knee, picking her up and holding her in the crook of his arm returning to the garage of the Edelstein High Guard.

"Tell me, what happened after I left?" Mastema asked, almost eagerly as Dureau recounted the battle he had fought with the Black Mage, finishing by telling her that he had been 'discovered' by the Black Wings and had been rescued by the High Guard, formerly The Resistance.

"Until now I have been training as hard as I possibly can to regain what I have lost. My Ageis was nearly non-existent and now is only a fraction of what it used to be. What happened while I was away all those years ago?" Mastema sighed contentedly, momentarily licking her paw and spitting out the hair that had gathered on her tongue.

"Oh, where do I begin?" Mestema asked rhetorically, looking into the sky to gather her thoughts

"What happened to the Black Mage?" Dureau asked bluntly.

"From what I was able to gather, The Heroes fought ferociously against him, but during their battle, it became clear they wouldn't be able to defeat him so instead they sealed him in what is now known as Victoria Island. After his recent revival, The Guardians of Ossyria were the ones who completely annihilated him; I found out later about your family, I'm so sorry." She said with a soothing tone and placed a paw on his chest when he stopped, the shadows produced from his long ruby red hair covering his eyes as he struggled keep his tears at bay.

"What of the other Generals? What happened to them?" He asked with a cracking voice.

"All I know is that they went into hiding after they were defeated by the Heroes. Save for Arkarium, they simply disappeared. They resurfaced for a short while near the end of The Guardians prophesied battle, but they simply have vanished once again."

"Then what of the Heroes? If they sealed him away then there is sure to be record of them." Dureau asked once he was able to regain his composure and begin walking again.

"There is, but history tells that they too simply disappeared. One of the Hero's was said to have returned, and another reincarnated, but then these silly humans say many things that don't add up."

"And what of you? How have you faired in my absence?" Dureau asked, almost sounding as if he cared for her more than he let on. Mastema smiled sadly; he may be asking about how she was, but she knew that he still didn't understand her feelings.

"Through the centuries I kept looking, hoping that I would find something that indicated you made it out of the temple. I had even posed as a house cat a few times, and nearly believed I was at one time. I had almost lost all hope when I heard rumors of a man with wings staying in Edelstein, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high only to have them dashed, and then I would have to be a house cat forever and never know if you were alright and…"

"Mastema, you're rambling again." Dureau said calmly, placing a hand on her head and scratching behind her ear which she leaned into.

"So what now?" Mastema asked.

"Right now I'm taking you back to the High Guard headquarters. While I have no doubt of your faithfulness, your current form will not allow you to fight at my side. Within the High Guard you will not only be protected, but can also offer them help in whatever ways you can." Mastema jumped from Dureau's hands and transformed into her human form.

"No! I can't stay there! They'll treat me like a cat, and I don't know how much more of that I can withstand!" she wailed before turning back into a cat, her forepaws leaning against Dureau's shin.

"No they will not: I'll explain to them who you are. Which raises the question as to why you haven't been able to hold your human form?" Mastema sighed and shook her head.

"I believe it's because I've stayed in this form for so long that I no longer have the energy to sustain my human form. But I think we'll be able to find a way to get my former self back. Speaking of power, you said that you haven't been able to increase your Ageis?"

"Yes, and no matter how much training I have employed, I have only been able to enhance my physical strength."

"Then form a contract with me. From what it sounds like you told me, your Ageis' strength was taken away, and thus hasn't been able to support your more powerful attacks. I still have all my power, albeit I can't get to it because I'm stuck in this form." Dureau paused a moment; yes he knew that Mastema was always the type that would do anything that he asked of her, but to offer her power to him so easily was almost, too easy.

"Mastema, you seem so eager to give your power away. You seem, different then I remember." Mastema looked away, the skin on her face just below her fur turning bright red.

"_It's because I…_ It must be just because I've been stuck in this cat form for so long." Mastema finally managed to blurt out, laughing nervously.

"I'm still quite hesitant. What you speak of…"

"Don't worry about it! You'll be getting my demon powers and will be able to empower your Ageis many times over, not my feline power. In addition we'll be able to communicate mentally; it's a win-win no matter how you look at it. At least let me do this to make up for not being able to fight by your side when you faced the Mage." She said with a tone bordering on desperation: was there something that she was hiding from him in her eagerness to give him hers powers? Against his gut feeling that this was all a mistake, Dureau nodded and Mastema jumped around in circles happily.

"Alright, I'll prepare the ritual so, you can walk around for a bit while I get ready." She said, happily scampering off to find what it was that she needed, leaving Dureau with his thoughts.

"I only hope that this isn't a mistake." Dureau said to himself, turning towards town to let Claudine know that he had taken care of their 'creature' problem.

* * *

After morning broke, Luminous quickly dressed and was just walking out of the room when he felt Lania's hand grab his, holding him from leaving.

"Where are you going my light?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning wide as Luminous returned to her and sat down.

"I'm going to see if I can find a way to bring this, thing under control. It's getting more and more powerful as time goes by, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you again." Luminous said, patting her hand when he felt Lania scoot her way around him and get up.

"give me a few moments and I'll come with you." she said, yawning once again as she splashed her face with some cool water.

"Lania, I need to do this alone. I don't want you getting hurt."

"And I told you that I was going with you, no matter what. I know you, and you won't let this thing beat you." she said, walking into the closet and changing into a simple dress. Luminous sighed and went outside to wait for her when a man passing by searching for herbs happened to walk by. Luminous had no idea who it was that he needed to turn to, and asked if there was someone who could help him in magic. The person seemed baffled and his response was a bit rude, but he was directed to Ellinia. There, a person by the name of Helen would be able to help him.

As the man left, Luminous thanked him, only to met with a grunt. Lania came down shortly after the man had left, and hand in hand they traveled to the Magical center of Victoria, the tree city of Ellinia. It was noon when they reached it: Luminous looked around in awe, feeling strange seeing a city such as this in the Ellin forest. But then again, quite a few centuries had passed from his last visit to The Ellin Forest, so there were bound to be some changes. When he arrived, he was surprised to see a large elegant air ship passing over head through the trees.

"_I recognize that ship! That's Phantom's Ship! Phantom is alive!_" he thought, leaving Lania in a flash of light, trying to get to that ship. But by the time that he had teleported to the highest branches nearest to the ship, it was already too far away heading somewhere to the west.

"Luminous! What's wrong? What did you see?" Lania asked after Luminous teleported back down to where Lania stood waiting for him on a rope and vine bridge.

"It was Phantom, another of my comrades. I see he is alive as well. Now where would Helen be?" Luminous asked, looking around the city trying to spot a building that would house such an important person.

"Helen? You mean _THE _Helen? She's usually found in the Great Library in the center of Ellinia, but I don't know if she is there right now." Lania answered.

"I must speak with her; I need to find a way to get my power under control or else I just may end up hurting you again, or worse." Lania lowered her brow, looking around to get her bearings before leading him in the direction of the Library, crossing vine ladders and climbing ropes until they were on standing in the middle of the city, where many rope and wooden slat bridges converged.

"I take it that's the Great Library?" Luminous asked.

"Yes. Although I'm not sure that she's even here. She often has many students and so much business to attend to during the day."

"At least we can ask when she'll return if she isn't there." Luminous argued, walking to the building and opening the doors to the library with a grand pull, making the light dust that had gathered there swirl in the wake of the doors. Inside were shelves upon shelves of books, some of which were open and stacked on a table in the center of the room, short candles in stands sporting long drippings along the center of the table.

"Who are you?! Why are you breaking into the Great Library?" an agitated voice asked, making Luminous turn around and ready a spell to attack, seeing that it was a small fairy with light gold hair.

"I am actually looking for a person by the name of Helen, do you happen to know where she is?" Luminous asked, dispelling his attack. The fairy crossed her arms and looked the other way.

"No, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell a human like you." she said when Lania produced a small orange.

"Would you tell me for an…"

"ORANGE! I love oranges. You humans may be strange, but your foods are the best, especially these! Oooh, it smells good. I'll tell you anything you want to know!" she said, taking a tiny dagger from her belt that looked to be nothing more than a pin, digging out a piece of peeling.

"Alright then, where can we find Helen?" Lania asked, stifling a laugh as the fairy pulled her face from the small hole and swallowed the mouthful she had.

"Helen? Oh, yeah, Grendal's Granddaughter! She went to Henesys this morning, but she said she would be back this afternoon. If you would like to wait, she may be coming back soon." The fairy said before plunging her head back into the hole and devouring the orange from the inside.

"I can't wait that long; surely there has to be someone who I can speak with." Luminous pressed. The fairy once again pulled her face out of the orange, wiping the juice from her mouth with the back of her hand.

"There is, but he isn't here. He's in El Nath, and I doubt that you'd want to go there, since you seem to be so impatient."

"Who art impatient Arwen?" A woman's voice asked, making Luminous and Lania turn around to see a woman dressed in flowing golden black robes and a slightly muscular man standing dressed as though he were a Ninja. Luminous squinted his eyes slightly as he studied them, fighting an urge to hurl his staff at them. The power that was coming from both of them was breath taking; Luminous felt as if it were a moderate pressure against his skin, making it break out in goose flesh.

"_No, it can't be… The Onyx Empress Requiem and the Blade of Flames?! Just who are these people?!_" He thought when the woman seemed to sense his questions and turned to him with a pleasant and serine smile.

"Art thou the one who hath come seeking counsel?" She asked, before turning to the library and waving her hand making the candles throughout come to life with a small flame.

"There's no need to afraid of us sir. Please, come in and perhaps we can help you with what it is you are seeking. I am Olsen Da'Lor, Master Ninja of Kerning and this is my wife, Helen Olman Da'Lor, Master Magus of Ellinia." Olsen said, holding out his hand to them. Luminous furrowed his brow slightly: a woman as head Magus?! When did Ossyria fall so far as to have something like this change? Still he kept his shock silent and bowed slightly as he was about to enter, but Lania stood dumbfounded with her mouth agape.

"Y-y-You're… You're two of the Guardians! Oh it's an honor to meet the two of you! Does my hair look ok? What about my dress? Please tell me that it looks alright because I would really hate for it to be all wrinkled…"

"Young miss." Helen's stern voice said, making Lania look straight to her and freeze.

"Yes?"

"We art not gods. Nay, we art mere humans as thee. While such tribute at times is flattering, it is not needed for a casual visit." Helen smiled comfortingly as she waved her hand over some chairs, lifting the dust from their fabric and setting them across from her study table.

"Please, have a seat while I prepare some tea." Olsen said, resting a hand on Helen's shoulder for a moment as he left to the back.

"What be thy names?" Helen asked as she sat down in the grand chair behind the main desk. Luminous swallowed hard for a moment before answering, still puzzled by their immense power; perhaps it had something to do with her odd violet hair color?

"My name is Luminous, Mage of light, and this is my… good friend Lania." For a moment Lania looked at him with hurt eyes, holding back her shock and extended her hand in greeting to Helen.

"Well met mine guests. And a most high honor to meet one of the five that fought long 'ere us. I am interested as to the mystery of thy inquiry: wherefore wouldst thou, an apprentice of Minerva herself, needst speak with someone such as I?" Luminous shook his head slightly as he made sure to hang onto her words since her way of speaking was quite different than that of normal people. Another curious thing to him was that this woman was the Master Magus. The last he had ever seen of any kind of Magi Order, the men were always the leaders, so it was not something he was entirely used to.

"If you know who I am then you can also understand what kind of magic that I use?"

"Verily, however I was not privy to the particulars until recently."

"I see. Even so that saves some time. My magic is heavily based in Light and as such my power has stayed pure to that. Recently I have found that during the battle in which the Mage was sealed I was cursed with his power and it manifested itself as Shadow Magic. I have been training to try and rid myself of this magic, but it seems the more that I train to empower my light magic, the more powerful the Shadow Magic becomes. And if that weren't all, my Light magic seems to be… dimmer somehow, like I am lacking in mana." Helen pondered for a moment, walking over to a book shelf and levitating to one of the high shelves, pointing to and reading over the spines as she slowly passed.

"However I don't expect you to have anything on the Order of Light that may give you some explanation of…"

"Luminous, was it?" Olsen asked, coming back from the kitchen with a tray, cups and a pot of tea. Luminous nodded just as he sat down.

"You shouldn't doubt her. Even with the threat of the Black Wings destroying any and everything having to do with you heroes, Helen has managed to keep some safe. How she does it is something that even I don't know, but she just may have something to solve your predicament."

"Well said mine love. And as such, I hath found said tome; a tutoring book of the Order of Light from the headmaster Beuwon. According to its first pages, thy magic is enhanced by an impressive power named Aurora. Hath thou forgotten such instruction master Luminous?" Helen asked as she brought the old book over to the table, letting Luminous read over the page that Helen had turned to, which depicted the Aurora itself as six crystals.

"Time is a cruel master, and as such I must have…" Luminous stopped his sentence short when his right eye glowed brightly and his hand was engulfed with a dark power, leaping at Helen as fast as he could. Helen teleported away to avoid being grabbed, but Luminous in his rage hurled an orb or dark power at her that she easily deflected with the use of a barrier. No sooner had he done that then he charged at her, while Olsen reached for his dagger and leaned into his run, holding back Luminous' staff as he swung down to meet the barrier.

"If that's how I can get stronger then tell me where I can find it!" he demanded, black power surging from him as flames while his light hair darkened to black.

"TELL ME WHERE IT IS AND I SHALL SPARE YOU!" he thundered, making Olsen transform his cloak into a blade made from pure flames, swinging it at him hard enough that the arc of flames threw him back allowing Helen the moment she needed to drop the barrier and cast a small version of the Genesis Light, hitting Luminous with a pillar of tranquil violet light. For a moment Luminous struggled against her when he stopped resisting all together and let the light engulf him before landing on his feet, his hair once again the light color it had been before.

"So this is the Shadow Magic that you were talking about?" Olsen asked once he was sure that Lumious wouldn't attack again.

"It is. It's a horrible, frightening thing and I feel that all it wants to gain is power, that anything else is just a road block. I must rid myself of this shadow magic, or else I may do something later that I will regret." Luminous said, the light in his eyes becoming pleading as he stole a quick glance at Lania. Helen nodded her understanding and returned to the book.

"I see. Then haply this shouldst provide thee with some solace: I will search for what I can on the Aurora. I wot dram of it, but I will search for what I can. In the cullionly time, thou can weaken thy darkness slightly: some of the people of Ellinia require assistance in their deeds and by helping them, thy darkness shouldst weaken. " Luminous looked skeptical, but it was worth a try if it meant that he would be able to rid himself of the shadows that had invaded his being, even if it was just a little.

"Thank you, Helen. Please send for me when you have found anything, anything at all." Luminous said before rushing out of the door with Lania close behind.

"Do you really think that having him help people will weaken that darkness in him?" Helen shook her head and turned to the book, bringing down a parchment and dipping her quill.

"I wot not Olsen. However idleness would only serve to pressure me and possibly cause me to err. Since he is marry one of the original five, I wouldst envy to tender him work that is less than mine best." Olsen nodded, kissing her cheek and leaving her to the study of the tome, when something fell out from between the pages. Looking down, Helen saw that it was two small scrolls, each having a strange seal of wax pressed onto their edges with a symbol in the shape of a sun. Perhaps these scrolls would shed some light on the situation she had put herself in by saying that she would find out something about the Order.

* * *

"…it was then that I used this very card to slip past the guards, making them search for weeks on how I had eluded them, with the Blood Diamonds of the Nath Mines in my treasure room." The four children sat star struck as they pressed together, listening intently to the story that Phantom told while they waited to come into Edelstein.

"Do you think that you could show me how to use cards like yours one day?" Vondra asked. Phantom merely smiled and leaned in close to her with his finger below her chin.

"Perhaps, but I'd have to think about it." he chuckled before gently leaning her back up.

"You're still as much a flirt now as you were back then Phantom." Mercedes huffed, leaning against the sill of his sleeping quarters, her arms crossed over her chest with an agitated light in her eyes.

"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice, your majesty?" Phantom smirked, making her turn away and walk back out on the deck of the ship.

"_Master Phantom._" A voice called over the intercom.

"Yes Renault? Go ahead."

"_We are over the destination in question, should I prepare the reflection panels?_"

"No, that won't be necessary." Phantom said, walking over to a window and looking over the town far below, memorizing it when something made him reach for a spy glass. Walking amidst the people was a man dressed in a black leather coat, pointed mustache, and a rather high forehead. He watched for a moment as the man stopped then looked around motioning to someone who was also wearing the same leather coat, and a black hat pulled low over his eyes. Not long after that one had walked over to the first man, two more people wearing the same kind of clothing walked to him and then all four of them walked into a back alley. He panned over the city slightly, finding one more that seemed to be just minding his own business, seemingly unaware of the other four that had gone into the alley.

"Renault, bring the ship down to pod height." He called, running over to his closet and talking out a simple get up of dirty pants, worn shirt and old boots.

"What are you doing?" Latimer asked, lifting an eyebrow high.

"There's a chance that I'll be able to find out some information. I'm going into Edelstein on my own. You're free to do as you please, but my mission is my own; If you run into trouble, Mercedes should be able to help you since she has been able to get back some of her strength." Patricia raised and eye brow and Dumia laughed.

"Mercedes protect us? HA! I think it'd be the other way around bub." Patricia laughed. But Phantom didn't respond as he ran out to the deck, jumped into the pod and began lowering himself to the ground.

"I wonder what was so important that he couldn't even say goodbye?" Dumia chuckled, walking over to her mech and beginning a systems check. Mercedes had walked to the helm, still slightly upset that Phantom had even pulled such a stunt as he had with Vondra. He was a grown man for Minerva's sake! But even when he had found companionship with Aria, he was still quite the flirt, seeming to revel in the attention that he would get from his mainly feminine fan base, even if it was because he was a thief.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a streak of black shoot across their view through the clouds, running from the helm and to the side of the deck watching through a break in the clouds as the black something dove into town. She studied it longer, soon making out the sleek and majestic outline of a black dragon. Watching it more intently, she saw that there was a light haired young man sitting atop the dragon with a young woman behind him sporting bob cut light brown hair.

"_No, it couldn't be!_ FREUD! AFRIEN!" Mercedes called as loud as she could, but not even getting so much as a response from them as they landed in the middle of town. For a bit Mercedes could make out the Afrien's form when it simply disappeared all together. Quickly she ran back into the helm room while thoughts rushed through her mind.

"_Afrien could never disappear like that, but maybe after all this time she's gained the ability to. Minerva taught them both some quite powerful spells, so this could be something that she learned on her own._ Renault, can you please take the ship down lower so that we can get off?" Renault nodded, pushing a couple buttons and pulling down a lever, making her feel as though she were floating for a moment as the ship went straight down. Dumia and Latimer soon burst through the door of the helm, Dumia having wrenches in each hand and a pair of tweezers in her mouth.

"Vuts zuh frovlem?" she asked through the pliers.

"Nothing, Mercedes simply asked me to take the ship lower so that you can get off." Renault replied over his shoulder. Dumia's shoulders slumped as she hung her head.

"And fear I fought vat I'd ve avle to fee how thiff fing vorked." She said, turning around and walking back out to the deck, taking the pliers out of her mouth.

"You know they do have their own mechanics for this ship right?" Latimer asked, a solid sounding hit coming from the hall followed by Latimer's groan of pain.

"OOOOoooowww! What was that for Dumia?!" he asked, rubbing his shoulder to try and stifle the pain from her hitting him with the 1" wrench she held.

"Because I felt like it." She shot back as she stomped to the deck, strapping herself into the mech and starting it. Once on the ground, Mercedes jogged through the streets as though she were looking for someone. She looked this way and that while the others followed behind her, pushing their way through the many crowds of blank faced people who would more often than not eye them as they went by. All of the Guardian's children wondered if they were going to try and use some sort of spell to steal their money or weapons. However they soon lost sight of Mercedes, she could be seen suddenly soaring through the air with flashes of green light around her as she went.

"Well that's just great. Now what do we do?" Dumia huffed. Patricia shook her head, spinning her wand around her and slamming the end of it into the ground as a pulse of magic shot out from it, shooting between the people and then pushing them to the sides.

"After you Latimer." She said taking a bow. Vondra and Latimer both shook their heads as they ran through the opening with Patricia close behind.

"Uh guys, I can't follow you ya'know?!" Dumia called.

"Find another way around!" Vondra called as she ran. Dumia huffed and put her tongue between her upper lip and teeth before turning and walking down another of the main streets, mumbling to herself as she went.

* * *

For hours, Luminous had been running errand after errand after errand for people within the city, and frankly it was not only tiring him out, it was downright arbitrary. So many people were asking him to do things that just didn't make sense, not to mention that every time that he finished with one task that he would just be asked to do another, exactly the same only with more to bring back.

"Lania, I'm not really sure this is going to be working out. I've helped three people and felt like I've been battling a hoard of Crimson! I'm wiped out." Luminous huffed, leaning against one of the trees to catch his breath.

"Don't worry Loomy, I'm right there with you." Lania panted as she sat down beside him.

"_Don't_ call me Loomy." He growled, looking at her with his glowing right eye. Lania backed slightly in apprehension; she called him Loomy all the time as a pet name. Was this shadow magic changing him that much?. Dread filled Luminous' entire mind when he heard a voice calling for him, but became interested when the boy sent to find him said that Helen wanted to speak with him. It felt as if life had been put back into his tired body as he walked back for the Library.

"Luminous, how hast thy deeds faired thus far?" Helen asked with a smile. Luminous simply rolled his eyes, making Helen understand by just that sight alone.

"I see. Then this shouldst endue joy to thy heart. Upon further study, I found these two scrolls: the first tells that thy Order of Light marry prided themselves to the help of others, strengthening their power. "

"Were you able to find anything about the Aurora?" Luminous asked earnestly, relieved when Helen smiled and nodded.

"Aye; every magus in the Order of Light possessed their own Aurora crystal set that would disintegrate when exposed to prolonged periods of inactivity, which by looking to thy staff, appears to hast betid." Helen motioned, directing Luminous to look to one end of his staff where six empty slots were.

"Each of the six crystals wast chosen by each magus from a mine, and specially attuned to them by the master mages; however thy case was special. Thine sixth crystal was not of the usual material since every one thou chosest refused thee. When at last the six crystals wast gathered, they intern concentrated thy power and refined it. The second scroll hath proven quite vexing." She stated, holding out the second scroll to him.

"What did it say?"

"'In the house of stone, there thou wilt find thy light. The Guardians off dark shall guide thy path, and the stones of fire are thy light to find thy peace.' I hast read many a riddle in the tomes within mine grandfather's library, but none such as this. Doth this hast meaning to thee?" Luminous opened the scroll, looking over the words once again, trying to think about what it is they meant when something began to catch

"_To find thy peace. What could that… No it couldn't be._ Helen do you have a thesaurus I could use?" She searched for a moment on her table, producing a small book that Luminous took and began turning page after page as though reading though it ravenously.

", _Peace: Calm, quiet, stillness, tranquility… serenity._ Serenity!" Luminous shouted, closing the book hard enough that the dust that had gathered on the edges of the pages plumed in a cloud.

"Didst thou find something?" Helen asked. Luminous smiled at her as he read the scroll again.

"Yes I did. If I could go back to the center of it all, to Serenity my home village, then I would be able to rebuild my Aurora and finally rid myself of this shadow magic!" Luminous said joyously when his face lost all expression, his hair becoming black and his right eye glowing furiously.

"No, I won't rid myself of it. I'll make it even more powerful." He hissed. Lania backed away from him slightly when his demeanor changed.

"Luminous, you're scaring me, what are you…"

"Silence wench! If you are going to stand in my way then perhaps I ought to deal with you here and now!" He hissed, putting the end of his staff under her chin, pressing the end of it into her neck.

"Master Luminous!" Helen called, making a wave of crystal power surge from her and fill the room with a stifling power which for a brief moment disoriented Luminous allowing him to regain control.

"I… So it is getting worse. I must return to Serenity as soon as possible in order to rebuild my Aurora; only then will I be able to rid myself of this curse. What was the first part of that scroll again?" Luminous asked, backing away from Lania afraid that if he stood too close that he wouldn't be able to stop himself. Lania tried to step closer, but Luminous only further distanced himself from her.

"In the house of stone there thou wilt find thy light. The Guardians off dark shall guide thy path, and the stones of fire are thy light." Luminous' eyes danced back and forth as he thought, before nodding as he figured out where it was that he had to go.

"There was a place long ago called the Golem's Temple; does it still stand and if not, do you know where I could find its ruins?" Helen smiled warmly before holding up her hand and making a map hover over to her, spreading it out on the table and pointing to a point on the map a few miles outside of Henesys.

"That is whence thou wilt find thy temple. Take this, it will allow thee passage on the taxi to Henesys. Once thou hast arrived, seek out mine cater-cousin Jenny, Master Archer of Henesys, and she or her helping hand Antonia shall guide thee to the temple." Thankfully Helen was nice enough to guide them to this 'taxi', and in no time, Lania and Luminous were dropped off in front of Jenny's training quarters where Antonia greeted them and guided them to the temple. Once there, Antonia returned to town as Luminous sighed heavily looking over the ruins of the once great temple before him.

"Luminous?"

"I feel quite saddened at this temple's disrepair." He mumbled, walking out from the trees and bushes surrounding the temple when a large stone leg slammed down before him, partially covered in moss and grasses. The two of them lost their balance, falling back in surprise as they looked up, rolling to the side as a large stone hand came down next to them as the creature leaned its broad chested body down to see them better. Between its massive shoulders rested the dome shaped head which sported two lights shining from the dark line around the middle of its head making up its face. The stone creature seemed to be looking them in the eye, holding up its other hand and pointing a finger at Luminous while a breathy groan emanated from it.

"I think it wants to know who you are." Lania whispered as Luminous stood to his feet once again.

"I am Luminous, Magus of the Order of Light, come to seek peace." He said as the Golem lowered its hand.

"_What did I just say? I don't remember any such thing having to be said when entering Serenity._" Luminous thought as fuzzy memories played through his mind for a moment of him as a young man entering this place when it was new, but it still seemed so far off. For a moment the Golem did nothing as grinding sounds came from within it when the eyes of the Golem became brighter, focused on Lania, raising its lowered hand and clenched its fist, driving it down with thunderous force.

"STOP!" Luminous shouted, stepping in the way of its fist making the golem halt his attack instantly. Luminous took a breath, waiting for the impact and then letting it out as the winds from its fist passed around him.

"She's… uh… a guest! A guest under my watch!" The glow in the golem's eyes diminished as it put its hand down and stood back up and walked off, its hands nearly touching the ground. Luminous was about to follow after the golem when another appeared before him, this one appearing to have been made of a darker rock, but only having a single glowing eye in the center of its head. The two of them looked up to the golem's face when it lifted its arm and pointed towards a portion of the temple that appeared to still be intact and began walking towards it.

Luminous was confused, but thought about what it was that Helen had read in the scroll, about 'The Guardian of Dark shall guide thy path' and decided that he just may follow this stone giant. Further and further they followed him, listening to the sounds of his heavy footsteps until they stopped within a dark hallway. Luminous was about to cast a spell to light the area when the golem sounded as if it turned around and stomped hard on the ground making them loose their balance for a moment.

"Alright, I won't." Luminous said, as the Golem sounded like he turned back around. From before them, pale blue light shining in the shape of the golem's hand, revealing a fine sand painting all around them when the floor and wall began to rotate before the Golem. On the other side of the wall was a gateway that swirled with bright white light, making both Luminous and Lania have to cover their eyes because of its brilliance. The golem then stepped over them to the gateway, holding its hand out on the wall of light which quickly dissipated into a dark hallway. Once the light was gone, the golem grunted with a deep voice and pointed down the hallway before becoming nothing but a dark grey statue.

Quietly they walked through the hall which was illuminated by small orbs of light as they went until they came to a large room within a cave. It was bathed in a soft white light coming from a massive chandelier-like formation of crystal hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room, red velvet covered stairs led up to a platform, outlined in gold thread surrounded by tables and bookshelves. Most of them were sporting half written spells and various bottles holding flakes of what used to be potions.

Luminous looked around the entire room, hazy memories of his early studies here in this very place where he would spend hours honing his skill of light. Lania knelt down next to the staircase, admiring the fine raised detail of ferns within the velvet; she had never seen anything so exquisite since the finest thing she owned all her life was a dress that Luminous had bought her on her 16th birthday. She reached out to touch the velvet, but when she did it felt almost as if it shocked her. Bowls resting on the ends of the handrails flared to life in blue flames and some of the crystals above the platform looked to cycle through hundreds of colors. They then drifted down slightly, surrounding the platform before adjusting their position and revealing the image of a pale blue man in a hooded cloak standing on the platform. For a moment the man did nothing, then looked around the room, focusing on Luminous before holding out his hand where a staff appeared and set it down hard, making the sound echo through the entire cave and catch Luminous' attention.

"So you've finally returned Luminous." The man said as he smiled, making Luminous immediately turn and kneel to the ground putting his knuckles to his forehead.

"Master Beuwon, It is a pleasure to see you once again. I have so many questions for you." The man smiled and nodded, his thick mustache lifting as he smiled.

"I'm sure you do Luminous, I'm sure you do."

* * *

It was a wonder that Mercedes didn't get lost as she raced through the streets searching for who she swore was Freud and Afrein. The other girl with them she wasn't too sure about, but she was absolutely positive that those two were the ones from her past. On and on she searched and as time passed, beginning to seem desperate. Sometimes she would stop and ask if anyone had seen them, but the answer would always be that they had never heard of anyone by those names, nor had they seen anything.

She was just rounding a corner when she came to an abrupt halt, running into someone. Before she had time to react, the person grabbed hold of her arms and held her there, but the strength was much more than any normal person, unnatural even. When she opened her eyes she was staring straight into the ruffles hanging from someone's neck with a red broach, then turned her eyes to see a black and gold coat.

"So another of you has come back after all this time." A smooth voice said, letting go of her before turning and walking the other direction when Mercedes ordered him to stop, watching his ruby red hair gently drift into place.

"You are one of the Generals of the Black Wings, aren't you? What is your name?"

"Dureau, and I _was_ a general. I am no longer affiliated with that entity." He said, looking slightly over his shoulder as he spoke, his hair still blocking her from seeing most of his face. Mercedes thought about it for a moment, looking almost as if she were trying to see past his hardened exterior and see who he was on the deepest level.

"Is there something else that you wanted?" he asked impatiently, a pale violet light shining on his left arm as it hung beside him.

"You are the general that sent us that letter, aren't you?" the man turned around, setting a hand on the mace hanging from his belt and narrowing his deep red eyes.

"And why would you ask such an obvious question? Are you merely trying to harass me?"

"No I am not here to do such a thing. However you are different than I pictured you; right now all I would like to do is speak with you."

"Then speak." Dureau said, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Your letter given to us by your servant telling of the troop deployments within the temple was most helpful, key in fact to our victory. Arkarium had appeared shortly after and dealt her a heavy blow, fighting with us briefly when your servant held him back long enough for us to get passed." Dureau growled in his throat, his jaw flexing.

"That sounds like something he would do, the coward." Dureau growled with discontent. Mercedes smiled and chuckled.

"How was it that you escaped alive? From what I've come to understand, no one who had ever defied the Black Mage as you did ever lived. Evidence of your assault could be seen everywhere, even in the Black Mage's throne room." Mercedes said as Dureau shrugged and shook his head.

"I am still at a loss for how that happened myself. The last thought that passed through my mind was asking for redemption from the goddess Minerva, and when I awoke I found myself in an egg-like pod deep within the mines of Edelstein." Mercedes nodded thoughtfully.

"I see; I extend the gratitude of the Heroes then for your letter. Because of you, we were able to seal the Black Mage. It is regretful that we couldn't destroy him fully, leaving him a chance to once again rise."

"Don't flatter me with your gratitude; however I am pleased to hear that I was able to help in doing _some_ damage to the Black Mage." Dureau hissed, clenching his fist tightly enough that his ashen skin creaked under his grip.

"Regardless of your actions against The Mage and your aid to us, your crimes against Ossyria are still far too numerous to be atoned for by that one act alone. I can't be sure if your actions can ever be forgiven." Mercedes condemned as Dureau turned his red eyes to her and narrowed them.

"I do not expect to be forgiven, nor do I ask for it. My actions are something that I and I alone must face." Mercedes sighed with a long breath almost able to feel the sadness and anger coming from him.

"I do not envy you in the slightest. What do you plan to do now that the Mage has been eliminated?" Dureau shook his head.

"The only option I have left to me is to get back the strength I have lost while trying to find some way to atone for my sins and go after whoever is trying to take his place. As I said, I don't expect forgiveness, but I want to make the best of the chance that I was given." Dureau answered, turning slightly to face the plain where The Mage's castle still stood.

"I'm not sure that I'll be able to help you because of what it was that you've done, but I am glad that we at least are not enemies." Mercedes soothed, when Dureau snapped his attention back to her.

"I neither want nor need your help. Do not patronize me by thinking that we are by any means allies. If you in any way hinder me, I will not hesitate to…"

"I understand Dureau. But my curiosity as to why you sent the letter in the first place still haunts me: why would someone like you, one of the most powerful generals, send a letter to your enemies telling them of your troop's placement?" Dureau hung his head in a long silence when a single tear rolled down his face. The pain from so long ago still felt as fresh as the day that it had happened, and anytime anyone brought it up, it opened up the wound anew.

"My brother and mother were killed by the Black Mage after he had promised to spare their lives in a blood pact." He said with a shaky voice. Mercedes felt a stab of guilt hit her, able to feel his pain: she had only seen him as a heartless, bloodthirsty murderer for the Black Wings. Never once did she stop to consider there was any shred of emotion within him; his actions against the Mage at last made sense.

"For so long, you were my sworn enemy, but I am glad that we are now able to talk as such. _I_ still can't forgive you for what you've done in the past, but I no longer hate you." Dureau was about answer when the Guardian's Children surrounded them both, tense and ready to attack. Anxious moments passed as Dureau slowly reached for his mace, the shield on his arm glowing brightly until Phantom jumped down from the building where he had been watching the entire thing, flipping his hair out of his face before turning to Dureau.

"I remember you; you're one of the generals, aren't you?" Phantom asked, fainting his boyish grin. Dureau shook his head, looking Phantom in the eyes with a hard stare.

"And you must the Phantom Thief. It appears that all the Heroes have finally come back." Dureau answered cryticly.

"_All_? What do you mean by all?" Phantom asked, raising his eyebrow while leaning on his cane in interest.

"In a matter of speaking; I know that Aran is succeeded by his daughter, taking his name in memory of him. Then there are you two, as well as one who went by the name of Luminous. According to rumors from the High Guard in Edelstein, he was seen just recently in Henesys. And then there's your dragon mage."

"Freud and Afrein?! They're alive?" Mercedes asked excitedly. Latimer looked to Patricia for a bit before interjecting.

"Not exactly; Freud had a secret love that he told no one of and through her, continued his blood line to a young man by the name of Evan. Afrein is no longer with us since Freud was mortally wounded, affecting her as well. However she managed to use every last ounce of her strength to get away where she produced one egg before passing on. That egg would then be found by Evan 600 years later and be given the name, Mir." Anger began to weave itself into Mercedes being as Patricia spoke, tightening her fists.

"Freud was succeeded by a mere child? One who was never taught the ways of magic in the first place?!" Mercedes asked angrily.

"He is no longer a child, and has actually become a very accomplished Dragon Mage." Vondra answered, trying to sound informative enough so that she could calm Mercedes sudden burst of anger.

"There is no one that could take the place of Freud. I will not accept him until he can prove to me that he is worthy of the power Minerva bestowed upon those two." Phantom closed his eyes and turned away, not wanting to add to Mercedes' agitation: Freud and Mercedes had been very good friends, and there were times where even he had teased Freud from time to time about how close he and Mercedes were. He began finding hints that their relationship had taken a romantic turn before the final battle.

"The only other thing that will prove to me that he is worthy is dragging him to Minerva herself and asking her." Mercedes huffed. Dumia and Vondra looked at each other, swallowing hard before speaking.

"Miss Mercedes, I hate to tell you this, but Minerva is no longer with us." Mercedes, Dureau and Phantom all turned to Dumia with a shocked look on their face.

"The Goddess is dead?" Dureau asked, even though his tone sounded as if he were uninterested. Dumia nodded in response as thoughts rocketed through Dureau's mind.

"So he did succeed." Dureau smiled darkly, closing his eyes. Phantom turned to him, grabbing his coat and pinning him against the wall after jumping from a seal to propel him.

"What do you mean 'he succeeded'?" Phantom shouted, letting go only when Mercedes pulled him away to allow Dureau to speak.

"600 years ago, The Black Mage said that his first goal would be to eliminate Minerva since she was the only one who could possibly stand against him and bring his plans to a grinding halt. After he had dealt what he believed to be the killing blow, he was about to initiate the second phase of his plan when he felt Minerva's spirit still in this world. But he had prepared for something of that caliber and began to destroy Leafre, and my family. The contingency plan was to lure you to the temple, capture you, and make you tell him where Minerva was. He was blindsided when I destroyed his protective barrier ring. Now that the goddess is gone, there is nothing stopping him in carrying out his plan."

"Why are you talking as though he's still alive? My parents obliterated him almost 18 years ago." Patirica hollered. But Dureau shook his head.

"That is a foolish notion; even after your parents obliterated him, I can still feel his presence. The Mage wouldn't fall so easily unless he had some sort of contingency plan." At this new bit of information, Phantom rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Easy?! You call what they did _easy_?!" Latimer shouted. Phantom put a hand on his shoulder to calm him as he offered the information that he had gathered.

"That would make sense. When I left you guys earlier, I talked to a few Black Wings agents I saw sneaking around: none of them seemed to know anything and were all set on making money. However one of them did direct me to someone they all answered to by the name of Le Tierre. I haven't gone to see this person yet, but I wanted to come back and make sure that you were alright." Phantom said with a smirk, looking to Mercedes making her blush slightly and look away in faked frustration.

"If the Black Wings are still operational, then that must mean that the Black Mage's plan is already in motion." Dureau said, urging that they would all have to go to the mines and stop whatever it was down there, personally leading them to the mines knowing full well that they might still have some doubts about his loyalty. Despite Dureau's doubt, they agreed and once there, Phantom stopped them all and directed them off to one side behind some bushes.

"Why are we hiding here? I thought that we were going with you?" Mercedes asked as Phantom quieted her.

"Not to sound rude you highness, but you aren't exactly suited for sneaking around an enemy base. I'll go in, look for what I can, and be back out." Phantom smiled.

"I'm going with you; there are some things that I too want to find out." Dureau said calmly. Phantom was about to object, but decided against it since not only did he fear that Dureau was much stronger physically than him, but also didn't want to create a scene that would blow their cover. Quietly the two of them snuck through the mines, sometimes hearing the hiss of machinery working in the distance. While they walked, Dureau managed to slip a hat off a sleeping soldier to cover his eyes so that he would be slightly harder to identify. On and on they searched until they finally came to a more open area where creatures that looked to be oversized rabbits ran here and there, and in the center of the room stood a woman with long reddish blond hair giving various orders to those around her.

"Is that Le Tierre?" Dureau asked.

"From how the soldier described her, that seems to be her. We'll just have to wing it: let me do the talking." He said, before the two of them stepped out.

"Excuse me, can you please direct me to one Le Tierre?" Phantom asked with an inquisitive tone. The woman turned to him after signing a report and brushed the hair out of her face.

"I am her; are you two some new recruits to the Black Wings?" Dureau was about to speak when Phantom put the back of his hand on his chest.

"Yes we are. Forgive my friend, he hasn't learned the language yet and still doesn't know what a lot of the words mean." Phantom said quickly. Dureau sighed angrily, but kept silent.

"I see, in that case I'd like to see what it is you two are capable of. Could you tell your friend to go into this room here and destroy the dolls that are walking around in it? They are from a former officer and they are really making a racket. And you young man, can go out to the front of the mine and destroy some of the machines you see out front, that way I can get a better grip on your abilities." Phantom nodded, whispering into Dureau's ear and making motions as though he were telling him to go into the room. Dureau nodded and made his way into the room while Phantom did as she had asked.

The dolls were easy enough to take care of, and soon lay in splinters on the ground leaving him wondering what it was that he should do. He looked around for a moment and then saw a desk with a few books laying on it, one in particular standing out to him. A closer look revealed that it was a diary. As he flipped through it pages, he couldn't help but feel that it was more of a place where someone was dumping all of their unrequited feelings for a certain person referred to time and again as 'her' or 'she'. As he read, he felt a bit nauseated at what he was reading: humans expressed this emotion call love so ridiculously some times.

"_Who is it that this person is talking about?_" he wondered when something slipped out from between its pages, floating down to the floor. When Dureau picked it up and turned it over, it revealed that it was a picture of Orca.

"_So she is still alive._" He thought, when he heard a noise from outside tucking the picture into his pocket and being sure to put the book back in the same place he had found it before coming out of the room to see Phantom already standing before Le Tierre.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you two are indeed up to the tasks that we of the Black Wings require."

"As am I Lady Tierre. Perhaps in exchange for these errands we could have a meeting with one of your leading officers? I merely have a few burning questions I'd like to ask." Le Tierre drew the corner of her pale lips up for a moment, looking Phantom in the eyes with a hard stare.

"Certainly, our highest officials are of course the most important to us, so it will be a bit before we can have one meet you. Until then, please wait in this room here." She directed, closing the door behind them. Silence was all that hung there until the lights abruptly shut off, and when they came back on were surrounded by rabbit men with knives and daggers waiting to kill them. As they all lunged for them, Dureau pulled Phantom to the ground, swinging his mace in a wide arc that cut through every one of the assassins with ease before readying for another attack.

"You dare attack me! You are weak compared to the soldiers of my time!" Dureau hissed, swinging hard enough that black and red aura shot from the mace, as a scythe spun at the end tearing through the assassins. From behind him, another assassin was about to dive his dagger into his shoulder when Phantom stood and threw a card forward. The picture of the creature on the card then lifted, reaching out its clawed hand and swiping through the body of the assassin as Phantom then turned and swung his cane hard after violet light had gathered around his hand and shot the cane through his swing with tremendous force.

"I thought that you were a thief?" Dureau asked, kicking a body off of his foot once they assassins had all been dealt with.

"I am, but I have the ability to copy the abilities of others." Phantom smiled, pulling back his sleeve to reveal a holder of sorts strapped to his arm and in the holder was a card with the picture of Phantom dressed as a warrior while swinging a sword, violet light gathering around the guard.

"The only down side is that I have to keep switching cards if I want to use something different. It was a long shot to meet some of the higher-ups; I had a hunch that this room was a trap. Did you find anything in that other room?"

"Only a diary and this." Dureau mumbled, reaching into his coat and producing the picture. Phantom's face quickly became red with rage as he reached for the picture, making it crumble under his grip.

"Oh? Do you know Orca?" Dureau asked, almost sounding as though he were interested.

"Not personally, but she and her brother Suu are the ones responsible for Aria's death, as was told by Shinsoo." A sound from the door made them forget their subject, agreeing that they needed to get out of there as quickly as they could. But when Phantom emerged from the mine, Dureau was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened to the Demon?" Mercedes asked as she followed after Phantom who called for the Lumiere.

"He probably had something to take care of." He replied calmly before he and Mercedes rode the pod up to his ship, leaving the others behind since they had other business to attend to in Edelstein. As Mercedes was about to go into the ship, Phantom pulled the picture out once again and stared hard at it.

"_Orca, I will come for you and your brother, this I swear._"

* * *

Hilla carefully finished the spell, healing the final serious wound in Orca's torso and beginning the awakening sequence, draining the gel from the tank and helping her to her feet.

"You sure took long enough." Orca snorted, spitting the bad tasting gel out of her mouth.

"It's Arkarium you'll have to thank; I only managed to keep your wounds clean. However I did heal that last one." With wave of Hilla's hand, the remaining gel on Orca's body splashed off as quickly dressed.

"Follow me, there's a new leader that I want you to meet." Hilla said, waving her hand bidding Orca to follow. The girl concentrated for a bit, once again lifting her small body into the air and following after her, but stopping for a moment when she felt a tinge in her chest. Turning back around, she saw that her brother Suu was suspended in another tank of gel right next to hers: his hair had become quite long, but she still recognized him and immediately zipped to the tank.

"Oh Suu, you're still in that tank, even after all this time?" she asked when Hilla's agitated voice called her, peeling Orca away from him and sadly following. But when she looked up to see who it was that led them, she instantly readied a spell.

"What is the Empress Cygnus doing here?!" she demanded as the woman laughed, the gold fading from her hair and her skin becoming slightly paler.

"I'm glad that you thought so Orca. I wanted to make sure that this disguise would work for the next stage of our plan. My name is Clytemnestra; I am by no means your master The Black Mage, but I hope to… geh!" Clytemnestra put and hand to her head, fighting off a splitting headache as Hilla quickly helped her to a large metal apparatus that glowed as she neared and seemed to take away her pain.

"I have been able to stay away from that apparatus for longer periods of time, but I still have trouble some times. Those of you that are left, I will need you the most. We will begin phase two soon, and I need every one of you ready to do your part." Clytemnestra grinned as Orca smiled back. Clytemnestra was right, she was no Black Mage, but she certainly held the same appeal.

* * *

**Changed a few things to make it better**


	5. Chapter 4: Dark Swan

Chapter 4: Dark Swan

It had been happening for quite a few nights now and it was beginning to worry her; Cygnus would toss and turn, sometimes waking up in a cold sweat with Mihile leaning over her trying to wake her up from the nightmares that she would dream. On this particular night, the dream was much more detailed, allowing her to hear a voice calling to her. The times before she, could hear something but it was almost as if she were being barred her from hearing it clearly. This time she could hear it clearly and there was a strange familiarity to it.

"_Hello? Who's there?" the voice called._

_"I don't know; who are you?" Cygnus asked, feeling as if her body were moving around in a dark void on its own._

_"Are you… are you me?" the voice asked, changing direction and making Cygnus feel as though she were walking down a hallway, sometimes the view before her flashing to different scenes of what appeared to be a cave until it looked as though she were standing before a mirror. Cygnus moved forward, suddenly feeling another presence within her, but at the same time feeling as though it was her. With each step the view became clearer, showing her a young woman that looked exactly like her except for having platinum blond hair, slightly pale skin and dark blue eyes. Cygnus began reaching up to touch her face, feeling as if her hand was moving on its own but under her control as she looked closer, when the presence felt panicked._

_"Oh no, you can't be here any longer." It said. Cygnus was able to see that she was moving quickly away from the mirror._

_"Wait, why?" Cygnus pressed, but the presence only became more panicked._

_"He's waking up; if you stay here any longer he'll kill you!"_

_"Who is waking up? Who are you?" she asked the presence, _tossing in her bed_._ As her dream continued, the drapes blew in with ominous grace, floating back down to their resting position revealing a man with jet black wings standing over her, his magenta eyes seeming to glow from the light of the moon. He merely stood there watching her without emotion, his long black hair waving slightly in the breeze. Mihile quietly opened the door leading to her room, leaning in to check on Cygnus when he saw the man standing over her reaching out his hand to her head. Quickly he burst through the door, drawing his sword ready to attack when he recognized the man.

"Yoshumari? What are you…" Yoshumari turned his eyes to him, their wild look making Mihile stop since he wasn't sure how he would react to any sort of hostility. Without talking his eyes from Mihile, Yoshumari continued to reach for Cygnus's forehead and rested his palm there for a minute until her tossing slowly became a peaceful sleep. Mihile walked over to her with great strides, placing his fingers on her neck for a pulse, finding that it still beat strong as it always had.

"What've you done to Cygnus, I demand to know." Mihile growled with a low voice. Yoshumari simply turned his gaze to Mihile once again before looking to Cygnus and brushing the backs of his fingers across her cheek, pulled away and held by Mihile with an intense anger. Yoshumari once again looked Mihile in the eyes and pulled his hand from his grip, whispering a single word as he looked down to Cygnus once again, drawing Mihile's gaze.

"Prepare." Mihile quickly looked up, only to be met with the sight of the balcony that overlooked the outer courtyard of Ereve, the curtains swaying in a gentle breeze when Cygnus began to stir.

"Mihile? What's the matter love?" she asked, sleepily sitting up and setting her hand on his. Mihile swallowed hard, not sure if he should tell her what had just happened as he looked back to her, seeing a black feather resting in Cygnus's lap.

"I… I'm not sure."

* * *

"Beuwon, how have you been my old friend?" Luminous asked, standing to his feet and walking onto the platform.

"It has been a great while since I last saw you Luminous. From what I had understood, you trained under Minerva. I'm saddened to say that I am somewhat disappointed in you." Beuwon said, tilting his head downwards.

"And how would my training under Minerva be a disappointment to you? I was a powerful mage within the Order of Light, but my training under her was to better prepare me for the battle against the Black Mage after she had called for those who would volunteer." Beuwon lowered his brow and folded his arms behind him as he turned away from him.

"No Luminous, you did not. As I have said many times before, your unbridled pursuit of power must be left behind if you are to truly be a part of the Order. Until then you are still unqualified to be graduated as a mage. You must continue your studies as an apprentice until you have quelled your need…"

"You're right Beuwon; I have been seeking power. But that is only so that I could impress you when I am able to bring Ossyria under rule of the Order." Luminous said. His tone made Beuwon turn back around to see Luminous standing on the platform next to him, holding his staff to him as though it were a spear.

"If I am to graduate from this so called 'class' then tell me how it is done." he demanded. Beuwon looked closer at him, seeing that the end of his staff was nothing but a metal ring with empty slots.

"Luminous, what happened to your Aurora?!" Luminous smiled darkly as he pulled away his staff and stepped closer to him with a sick chuckle.

"That is why I came here; since my original Aurora has evaporated, I need you to synchronize a new one for me." Beuwon didn't move, even when Luminous raised his staff to strike the old man; Lania called out his name seeming to wake him from his lapse. Beuwon looked down to her in surprise and then looked back to Luminous, his face taking on a look of pure disappointment.

"Luminous, how far have you fallen?! Not only are you still seeking power, but now you bring a woman into the sacred temple of the Order?! Your insolence has gone beyond a simple need to prove yourself; you have defiled all that the Order of Light has stood for! Leave this place at once and never return!"

"But master Beuwon! I need your guidance and advice, please listen to me. Without the Aurora there has been…"

"You dare address me as master even after going against everything we taught you?! Leave at once!"

"Master please I…"

"Leave!"

"I SAID LISTEN TO ME!" Luminous shouted, slamming the end of his staff down on the ground hard as a surge of shadow magic erupted from his body, concentrating into a sphere while threads of pale blue reached out and struck the ground all around him. Each strike lit the tables, books and the ground ablaze, making the crystals hanging from the ceiling clang together like chimes. When the bout finally passed, Beuwon pulled away his sleeve after using it to guard himself and stared intently at Luminous, finally seeing that his right eye was glowing a dull and dark red.

"That is why I am in need of your assistance master Beuwon." Luminous whispered, collapsing to his knees, held upright by Lania when she rushed to his side.

"Luminous, please tell me that you haven't been practicing the forbidden art of Black Magic? If that is the case then I have no choice but to destroy you here and now." Beuwon asked, while Lania did what she could to hold Luminous up and offered her explanation.

"No he hasn't. From books that I have read of the Heroes, they were all cursed by the Black Mage after his defeat, frozen for over 600 years. I found him when I was a child 18 years ago, and brought him to my house where I grew up with him. This Shadow Magic as he calls it, only appeared a few days ago out of nowhere." Beuwon descended the stairs to look over Luminous more closely when something caught his eye, pulling up the sleeve of his right arm. In the skin were veins of a dark substance, swirling and pulsing like cracks in his actual skin.

"Luminous, what happened to you?" Beuwon asked quietly as Lania looked on in surprised panic reaching out to touch the strange veins.

"Don't touch! You could become twisted yourself." He warned as Luminous slowly came around and was able to kneel on his own, quickly pulling down his sleeve.

"Luminous, tell me everything that happened to you when you faced the Black Mage." At first he was hesitant, but after Lania's insistence he then told Beuwon of his battle with the Black Mage, and how he had been the one to initiate the spell that would ultimately seal him.

"All I needed to do was get the Mage to use one of his more powerful spells and the seal would complete itself. He did and the seal was working, but the power of the Black Mage was greater than we anticipated and he began to break through the walls of the seal before it had a chance to completely activate. To prevent this I attacked, pushing the Mage back into the seal; looking back I remember there was a painful stinging in my arm and face while I pushed him back. When the seal finally solidified, I could hear The Mage saying that his darkness would extinguish my light; I didn't know what it was that he meant then, but I know now and I must rid myself of this darkness." Beuwon sighed, getting to his feet once again and walking thoughtfully up the steps back to his platform, the crystals surrounding it turning slightly as he moved.

"And so you think that by getting your Aurora back, that you can overcome and rid yourself of this darkness within you? This 'shadow magic'?" Luminous swallowed, looking up to him with pleading and confused eyes while Beuwon sighed again.

"Luminous, the ways of Magic that have existed since the beginning of Ossyria have been able to make many things possible, but what you seek is one of the few things that magic cannot do. Obtaining an Aurora would indeed make your light magic more powerful, but it would also make this dark power within you stronger as well." Luminous slumped slightly where he knelt, pulling himself back to a straight kneeling position and getting to his feet.

"What do you mean 'make the darkness stronger', the Aurora only magnifies light!"

"No Luminous, The Aurora is a set of six crystals used by us in the Order of Light to enhance one's magic; it was never exclusively for light. By re-obtaining your Aurora, you would only make your struggle harder and your bouts of violence would become even more so." Beuwon absently explained while looking over an abstract piece of crystal that had fallen from the formation above him.

"Then… it's hopeless? How am I supposed to live like this? If this continues, I worry that something may happen to Lania that I have no control over." Luminous asked, his shoulders falling and his whole spirit becoming saddened.

"I never said that it would be hopeless Luminous. You can learn to control this darkness, just as you learned to control the light. Light and Shadow are opposites, but are two sides of the same coin. You will never be able to rid yourself of the darkness."

"But I don't want this power! I frightens me!" Luminous cried.

"The only other way you are going to be rid of this dark power is if you are dead, and I highly doubt that is what you want." Beuwon answered sternly, turning back to the dejected Luminous, feeling sorry for the lad who had known only light his entire life.

"It will be difficult at first since you must learn to form a habit of using dark and light power equally, but I am confident that you will be able to do so." Beuwon said, fading out of existence while the four crystals that surrounded him rose back up into the formation. Luminous let his own disappointed smile spread across his face, picking up his staff and sighing hard as he walked down a corridor paved by a red velvet runner.

"So, what exactly is this Beuwon? As soon as those crystals went dark, he disappeared; is he some sort of computer A.I.?" Lania asked. Luminous thought deeply before answering, turning to her periodically as they walked.

"Beuwon died not long before I was brought into the Order of Light. His mind and thoughts were something that could never be written down and still hold the same weight, and so the High Mages of the Order transferred his mind into that crystal structure above the platform. His presence was then projected from the four crystals you saw come down." Lania nodded, still thinking that the Beuwon was in some way, an A.I., but not in the sense that she knew of. It was obvious that she would never be able to learn the light magic here, but there was always gleaning what she could from Luminous to help him in any way that she could.

* * *

Irena had been searching Ereve for quite some time in search of Hawkeye, but even the normal spots that she could find him in were completely empty. Ever since the Guardians had to face Balrog once again, Hawkeye would sometimes just lock up, acting as though he were terrified while his face would become pale, even acting as ferocious and cold hearted when he had first become part of the Royal Guard.

"Hawkeye, where are you?" Irena asked to the winds, hearing a sudden breeze blow behind her making her draw an arrow and point it to the surrounding trees of Ereve. Slowly she crept behind a bush, sinking to the ground when she heard the sound of something breathing hard, walking with heavy steps. The only creatures that she knew existed on Ereve were the bird-like creatures called Tigurus, but even when they were fully grown their steps were never as heavy as whatever this thing was. The steps sounded as if were coming closer until they stopped all together, Irena's skin itching with hazy static that hung in the air from out of nowhere, until it sounded like it was walking away.

When she looked out from around her hiding spot she couldn't see anything there, making her wonder what it was that she really heard. Looking down at her feet the massive foot prints were nearly big enough for her to curl up in and sleep; what was it that had been there? Following the tracks, she eventually came to a point where the tracks disappeared altogether. Maybe these tracks were from Shinsoo who might have been training with Ashura, and quickly returned to the palace to confirm if Shinoo's prints were the ones she had seen. When she was just on the outskirts of the Palace, she happened to see that Shinsoo was curled up just outside the library with Ashura nestled in his feathers reading a book.

Even without moving in for a closer look, she could see that Shinsoo couldn't possibly be the one to make the prints; his feet were longer while his toes were bulbous in shape. The prints she had seen were closer to that of an overgrown duck: four clawed toes connected by webbing between them. Irena's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she felt a hand pat her on the back, making her jump and draw her bow.

"Whoa! Easy there archer, it's just me. What's made you so jumpy all of a sudden?" Hawkeye asked, holding both hands up for a moment before pushing the tip of the arrow away from his face. Irena let out the breath she had been holding and put the arrow she had drawn back into the quiver.

"Sorry about that Hawk. I had seen… well more like heard something in the woods surrounding the palace that sounded a lot bigger than the Tiguru's here." Irena then took him back to where she had found the foot prints and when Hawkeye saw them, he just stood there with a blank stare on his face.

"I really didn't know what to make of them since they disappear after about 200 yards… Hawkeye? You ok?" Irena asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face and patting his cheek

"Hawk? Hawk, can you hear me?" Hawkeye only remained still as what felt to be visions flowed though his mind in a blur.

"_What is it that you want us to find out master?" A man in a dark cloak asked. Hawkeye felt like he was pinned down with straps on a table, but his arms and legs weren't working like he wanted them to. Off to the side he could see another man in dark clothes walk up to him and place a clammy hand on the side of his head, whispers hanging in the air for a moment as the men in cloaks nodded, grabbing something metal and beginning to cut into his skin on his side, making him thrash in pain._

Irena was running out of ideas that might break his trance and finally slapped him, but as soon as her hand left his skin Hawkeye grabbed her throat and pinned her down, baring his teeth that had become sharp points and drawing back his fist while lightning fizzed around his fist.

"Hawk! It's me, Irena!" she wheezed, making Hawkeye regain himself and quickly back away from her.

"What's the matter with you?! Ever since the Guardians had to face Balrog 18 years ago you've been acting strange, and now you attack me? What's going on?" Irena coughed, when she looked closer at his eyes which had become huge black pits for a moment before they returned to their normal deep blue.

"I'm not sure. Back when they faced him, I was having flashbacks. At least they felt like flashbacks, but… I don't know. It was almost as if they were from another person." Irena requested him to tell her what it was that he was seeing, and after a little prying, gained his trust enough to have him tell her about the visions of himself being experimented on.

"But at the same time, it just doesn't feel like me." Hawkeye absently rubbed his right shoulder, a small ache rolling through his muscle when he thought he felt something. He unlatched his Knucklers, took off his gloves and rolled up his sleeve to see a scar that ran from the top of his shoulder to his elbow, in the same place that he had felt the cloaked people of his vision cut into his skin. Luckily Irena was looking away at the moment so he quickly rolled down his sleeve and began putting his gloves back on.

"Perhaps we should see Oz or Helen about this. They could shed some light on what's been going on." Irena suggested. Hawkeye nodded nervously in agreement as they returned to the Palace to find Oz, but the sight of that scar was still quite unsettling; how could his memory of being cut and the placement of that scar be in the same place? The question nagged at him until they reached the Palace where they both saw Eckhart walking across the courtyard and met halfway by Athena who had come to visit Ashura and Cygnus since she had some free time. As usual, Athena hugged him and kissed his cheek, but Eckhart didn't return her affections as he usually did; instead he simply stared at her for a moment and then walked around her. Athena began to walk with him, asking what it was that she had done to offend him when he abruptly stopped and pushed her away with a firm shove. Irena and Hawkeye walked closer to them, only able to make out the last of Eckhart's sentence.

"…so I don't want to see you around the palace ever again."

"But Eckhart, what did I do? Tell me and I'll fix it."

"There is nothing to fix Athena, we are simply no more." He said coldly, pulling his cloak around his shoulders and walking away towards the sleeping quarters while a stunned Athena was left standing in the middle of the courtyard twirling her diamond and onyx rings around her finger, wondering what it was that she had done to make Eckhart suddenly want to no longer see her. It was just, not like him to suddenly destroy their recent marriage with his reason being 'just because it isn't'. Hawkeye walked over to Eckhart, whipping him around by the arm hard enough that a light wind blew through the courtyard.

"What was that all about?!" Hawkeye demanded, Eckhart sounded as if he chuckled while looking back to a shattered Athena.

"She was no longer of any use to me; love is only for the weak. We knights don't have time for anything as frivolous as 'love'." Hawkeye was stunned, watching Eckhart walk away without being able to say anything in return. He felt a rage boiling inside him, making him clench his fists hard with each of his knuckles popping as he did. Yes there were relationships that came to an end, but this was not one of them, not to mention that Eckhart said to his face that he was just using her even after marrying Athena. However his respect for Eckhart kept him from letting his anger loose on the man. Right now, there was trying to console Athena, and finding Oz: where was that girl anyway?

* * *

"I still don't see why you just don't tell all those girls to get away from you." Patricia sighed heavily, swinging her wand through a group of branches barring her way.

"It's not like I'm asking for it. I just get all nervous." Latimer answered back, pushing some of the branches in his way. The four of the kids had been called on assignment with their parents for patrol duty, breaking up into two groups to cover more ground. Patricia and Latimer happened to be the one to be assigned to search through the dense underbrush of Ellinia for any signs of Black Wings cells.

"Well, not asking for it and not doing anything about it are two different things." Patricia answered, swatting away another thick wall of underbrush. Through one of her swings however, she turned and faced him as he pushed through. As he did, the light from above broke through, lighting his feminine features in a way that was much more handsome. Despite growing up together, Patricia often wondered if Latimer felt attracted to her or the Drake sisters.

"_Maybe not. I mean, he is sometimes swarmed by a lot of screaming and swooning girls. Though I have to wonder, how many of them are actually attracted to him and not just trying to find some way of getting to our parents through him._" She thought, swiping away another bunch of branches when she could hear the actuators of what she thought to be Dumia's mech.

"Did you guys find anything yet?" she called. When she spoke, the actuators stopped, and only a faint hum could be heard coming from the direction she had heard them in.

"Dumia? Vondra? Are you out there?" Patricia called again, raising her wand as a mana fizzled at the top of it when someone dropped down from above and wrapped her arms around Latimer.

"I gotcha!" Vondra called, laughing a bit when she saw both Latimer and Patricia jump by her sudden appearance.

"Vondra! Don't do that!" Patricia yelled just as Dumia came walking up in her mech and pulled back the canopy.

"Hey take it easy on 'im Vondra. He still gets nervous you know." Dumia called, as she put her mech in standby and leaned forward in the cab.

"Don't worry about it too much Dumia. You guys are fine. It's all the others out there that won't leave me alone." Latimer called when Vondra tilted her head, looking up at Latimer with mocked sympathy and large reddish brown eyes while hhugging him around his chest.

"Aw, would it make it better if I were to keep them all away from you?" she asked, batting her eyes a couple times making Latimer snort and push her away.

"Maybe. Alright, if you guys are done sweeping your sectors, I think we should head back to the landing point via the next grid. What you think Dumia?"

"I don't see anything suspicious on the radar, but it never hurts to have a look." Dumia called as she pulled her Mech out of stand-by and walked after Latimer and Vondra as they pushed their way through the underbrush. Patricia on the other hand stood there for a moment shaking her head; sure, Latimer may be a bit of a pushover when it came to keeping the girls away from him. In a way though, that shy innocence was what made him special. She sometimes wished she could be as bold as Vondra sometimes and perhaps could find out if any of them were in Latimer's sights. Until she was more sure of what she herself wanted, she kept the thought to herself and chased after them.

"Hey guys, wait up!" she called.

* * *

"Why did you insist on bringing me all the way out here to the middle of this prairie to see an abandoned stone building Phantom? Just look at all these briers in my hair!" Mercedes called, picking the prickly seeds out one by one and then looking for more.

"Are you complaining because you're a queen, or are you complaining because you just don't want to be here?" Eva asked with a sarcastic tone walking towards a stone building topped with a slumped over husk doll and Phantom turn back to her as they walked.

"You were the one that made me wait for two hours while you regained your powers of an Order 30. Besides, I need your insight on a bit of information that my intelligence officer was able to find, saying there was something of importance here that I needed to see." Phantom replied as they ventured inside the building, looking over various marionettes and dolls strewn across the tables in differing stages of completion, some of which were destroyed.

"Tell me why _I_ had to come with you guys?" Acer sighed, shifting the weight of his cannon on his back, wincing a bit from the ache in his shoulder after Jack had given it a firm squeeze for not finishing his booster circuit, again.

"Captain Jack had told me that you might need some practice with that cannon of yours, and being that these two are still not back to their full power yet, they might need some extra protection." Eva chimed, her eyes sparkling with the same intense radiance as her mother's. Acer huffed, shifting the weight again and trudging after them, having to duck down a bit to get through the door. With Latimer, Dumia, Vondra and Patricia all called on assignment, it left only Eva and Acer to be Mercedes and Phantom's guards for the moment. Each of them took various corners of the building, looking for anything that might seem like it would help them.

"Phantom, what exactly are we looking for?" Acer asked, moving a pile of papers and jumping back with a shout when a large spider crawled away from his hand, falling on the ground with a crash.

"Scared of a few creepy crawlers Acer?" Phantom called as Acer uncomfortably rolled off the cannon and pulled himself to his feet.

"We're actually looking for a recording device, something that was created while the child puppeteer was alive again for a short time. From my officer's source, it was supposed to be in a doll with a red mark on its chest." Phantom explained, looking through a small stack of papers.

"Does it look like this?" Eva asked, holding up one of the dolls laying amongst the broken ones on the floor with a red mark running across its chest as though it were a deep wound.

"Yes, that has to be it." Phantom answered, taking the doll in hand and looking over it for some sort of switch or press spot.

"Well, what's it supposed to do?" Eva asked when Phantom pressed on the wound mark, making the doll's eyes light up and pull itself from Phantom's hand. It hovered in the air while projecting a hologram-like image before them of Francis hunched down and talking in a whisper to the doll.

"I know I might get killed for this, but this is something that I think might be of interest to you if you have spoken to Tru." The picture wobbled around a bit, almost as if the doll were walking down a dark hole before bending down and looking out of a hole in a room where The Mage and a woman in dark clothes with short white hair were talking.

"_The Pillars of Time? I've never heard of them._" the woman answered. The Mage nodded his head as whispers filled the room for a short time, depicting him holding out something to the woman.

"Who is she?" Phantom asked with interest.

"That was Eleanor, the Black Witch. She died during the attack on the castle. At least that's what father told me." Eva replied, turning back to the picture to watch.

"_With this? Of course I can do that. Were you able to get a piece of them all?_" Eleanor asked. The Mage's eyes seemed to smile as he nodded slowly before more whispers arose as if it were a question, while Eleanor looked over whatever was in her hand.

"_Yes, but due to such a powerful exposure, they might be slightly different, which could easily be fixed with a disguise spell._" The Mage seemed to nod as an approving whisper came from him and he left. Eleanor on the other hand began walking down a hallway with whatever it was in her hand, the picture shaking and swaying as though the doll was following her. This continued for a short while until Eleanor went through a dark doorway. The doll followed revealing that there was a cave under the castle, where a blue light was emanating from further down. The doll walked towards the light, and peeked out from around the corner to reveal a control board still under construction and six empty glass tanks.

"What in Minerva's name…" Mercedes said with a whisper before the doll then fell to the ground and its eyes went dark.

"Whatever that was, this is something that we need to get to The Guardians as soon as possible." Acer chimed, hoisting the cannon onto his back once again when Mercedes noticed a piece of paper drifting down from the ceiling and landing at her feet, sporting what appeared to be a quickly written note which she read over silently.

"_I have heard the rumors of your return and of your beauty. Your beauty is as they say, but is your strength is what it is acclaimed to be? I challenge you to a battle, so meet me within the village of Sleeping Wood._" Phantom stealthily looked over her shoulder, reading over the script that had been written on it, before taking the paper out of her hand and looking over it closer in the light shining through the doorway.

"Phantom!" Mercedes cried as she tried to snatch it back only to fail as Phantom suddenly flitted away into the open air.

"So a challenge to the Sovereign of the Elves; sounds interesting if I do say so myself. Why don't we go meet this fellow and see what it is that he really wants?" He suggested, pointing out that the note didn't say that she had to come alone, only that this person wished to face her in battle.

"What good reason do I have for going to this battle? It's not as if the Elvin people are in danger." Mercedes questioned when Eva brought up a good point.

"A challenge is a challenge Mercedes. Even if there is no danger to your people, nothing is said about what this person's true intentions are. For all we know it could be a trap set by the Black Wings to get rid of your people while you're busy." Mercedes grudgingly agreed, but also because she too was secretly curious as to what this person wanted with her. When they reached the central tree of Victoria Island which led into the underground forest of Sleeping Wood, Acer stopped them listening to the whisper of a breeze blowing across the entrance.

"What is it?" Phantom asked, watching Acer with curiosity.

"Do you hear that?" He said. The other three listened closely, but it seemed the harder they tried, the less they heard, save for the breeze.

"I'm not sure I follow Acer, I don't hear anything." Mercedes commented as Acer smirked, looking to her.

"Exactly; usually this place is bustling with people going in and out, searching the depths of the Dungeon to speak with the spirit if Triston. But right now, there is only silence. Keep your guard up, there's no telling what is going to be down here." Acer commanded hoisting the heavy cannon up onto his shoulder as various lights came to life on it.

"Acer! If you use that thing in the stairwell, it'll bring the whole thing down on us!" Eva hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits in her concern.

"Relax, I don't have any ammo loaded in it. I'll just be using some Mana attacks I've learned and modified from Jack's training courses." Acer smirked back, leading them down into the dark corridor which was illuminated by the lights coming from the cannon. But upon reaching the village, Acer set the Cannon down with a loud clank, all of them looking around to try and find a single person there, but coming up empty handed everywhere they looked.

"So you've come, Mercedes." A voice said from somewhere.

"I expected that you would have come alone, with your Elvin Pride and all." Mercedes reached for her bows and lowered her stance, listening to the area around her as small glowing vines reached up her calves and extended around her arms.

"Your note didn't say that I needed to." Mercedes replied with a playful grin, standing to her full height and putting a wrist on her hip, still holding onto her gun.

"What did you do with all the people that were here?" she asked, waving her other arm to make her point.

"People? There were people here? When I arrived the place looked like it had been abandoned, recently too. But that leaves it perfect for our fight; now there's no one to interfere." The voice said, as the sound of a sword being drawn rang in the air.

"I've fought with every type of weapon's master there is, but I have yet to have the honor of fighting one who wields the unique Bowgun. This should be an interesting fight." There was a smile in the voice that time, making Mercedes nervous: did this person have some unbelievable strength? Did he have some kind of mysterious weapon that she wouldn't be able to win against? Was there even anything to worry about? Her attention was drawn away when she heard a loud clank from Acer pulling the bolt back on his cannon, looking this way and that as he braced himself.

"No Acer, this fight is mine. If I am to fail, then I will call for your help." She said, holding up one of her guns and walking quietly further into the town, listening for any hint as to where her opponent might be. As she rounded a corner, the sound of sprinting feet caught her off guard when someone or something dressed in dark clothes rushed her, the neck of his shirt pulled over his face and a straw hat covering his eyes. Mercedes quickly jumped out of the way as his blade came down, taking aim and firing as green corkscrews rocketed out. Each stuck the ground hard but the unknown assailant moved out of their path.

Mercedes was readying to land when the hairs on the back of her neck began tingling. She threw her head forward as she readied to carry a somersault but heard the blade of the assailant pass just over the back of her head. She then aimed one of her guns at him, pulling the trigger only to watch as the arrow passed through his cloak. She was about to take aim with the other when she hit the ground, making her lose focus for a moment. That lapse gave him enough time to back up and charge at her with frightening speed. Mercedes tried firing to stop his charge, but she was too slow allowing him to send her flying as he swung the katana in a hard upward cross, making her come to a skidding stop before the others.

"Mercedes are you…" Eva began, looking down at her arm when she smelled blood, seeing a trail of blood running down the side of her arm.

"You're injured!"

"This is nothing Eva." Mercedes replied, pressing her thumb knuckle into her arm. She then charged with her arms behind her as she once again called on nature, her arms and legs glowing with the same vine design as they had before. With a quick jump, she sprung off a barrel then to the side of a house across the street and into the air. Taking aim, the Spirit Arrow orbs glowed with an intense bright light, winds curling around the guns. The arrows flew with enough force to bend the air around them, shaking the houses as they whizzed past the man's head while he weaved back and forth, slicing through the arrows.

"_So far I have only enough power to use _that_ once. I have to wait for the right moment, otherwise I'll be too drained to fight any longer._" Mercedes thought as she sprinted down the road to keep up with the assailant, skidding to a stop and firing a barrage of arrows, deflected by the man's sword, flashing with each swing. The assailant then sheathed his sword and began to back up, looking up at her from under his hat with ire glowing eyes. Something was coming, and it was most likely some kind of powerful technique. In flash he was running at her in a full bore sprint. Mercedes lowered her stance, calling on nature one again as the Spirit Arrow orbs on her guns began making a climbing buzz while he reached his hand across for his sword.

"_Now!_" Mercedes thought, holding her guns straight out with a death grip as the glow of the orbs became brighter. Eva and Acer became concerned when Mercedes didn't move and were about to run to assist when Phantom stopped both of them and shook his head.

"Just watch." He said in a mysterious tone. All at once a bright streak of blue light erupted from the backs of Mercedes guns, shooting her forward like a rocket and hitting the assailant hard enough that the sound could be heard from where the others stood. Even after impact, Mercedes still charged forward knocking him back making him look down at his chest where two puncture marks were leaking blood onto his white shirt. Mercedes cringed at her actions; she hated to kill unnecessarily but there were times when even if a kill could have been avoided, it just wasn't possible.

Still using the momentum from her charge, she slammed the front of her left gun into the ground. Pulling the trigger released a blast of blue energy into the ground, erupting underneath the assailant as a drill shaped arrow, tossing him into the air. While he reached the zenith of his ascent, Mercedes then turned her body parallel to the ground, supporting herself in mid air for a moment as she took aim at him with her second gun. Arrows made of light sprayed from the gun, some of which stuck in the man's back, carrying him further up. When the man hit the ground, the arrows shoved through his chest before they dissipated leaving him unable to get up. Even if he could, he knew what was waiting for him when he returned to his commissioning officer. Sadly, Mercedes clipped her guns to her hips and knelt next to him, putting her knapsack under his head trying to make him comfortable in his last moments.

"Tell me, why is it that you wanted to fight?" she asked, reaching for the mask that covered his face, but was stopped when the other three walked up behind her and he began to explain in heaves and sputters.

"I have gone by many names, but the name I chose is Shade Knight." He reached to Mercedes shirt and pulled himself up, looking into her eyes with the look of a man already lost.

"May the Black Mage curse you!" he growled before breathing his last and slumping to the ground when the man and entire village began to waiver and sway like a mirage. Another few seconds later and they found themselves in the Sleeping Wood village with everyone staring at them as they stood around in the center of the village. Someone from the crowd recognized them, coming over to Mercedes, kneeling down to her when Eva recognized the girl as Jenny, the Guardian Archer.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Jenny said kindly, helping Mercedes to her feet, letting herself be led to a building within the village that smelled of herbs and steam. But even in the perceived relaxing air, the words of Shade Knight made her worry: was the Black Mage truly still alive? And then there was that message she and the others had seen about something going on below The Mage's castle.

Phantom and Acer seemed to have already forgotten about it as they readied to relax in the sauna, as did Eva, even though her seemingly emotionless face at the moment was hard to read. It might have been providence that Jenny had come here when she did, but Mercedes needed to speak with her about that knight and the doll that she had found. Once they had made themselves comfortable in the sauna room, Mercedes took a breath and began.

"Jenny. There is something that I need you and the others to know." Jenny sighed in agitation that 'business' was being discussed in a place of relaxation but felt that she should at least be given a moment of her time.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"It's about the Black Mage." Jenny instantly opened her eyes and sat up, leaning towards her with interest as her voice took on a serious tone. Normally she wouldn't give much weight to anything that anyone had to say since most of it turned out to be pranks put on by the Black Wings cells, but since it was coming from someone who had fought the Black Mage in the past, she decided that this was worth listening to.

"What about him?"

* * *

Clytemnestra huffed angrily, getting up from the chair next to the pool of used suspension gel that had served as her and her Shadow Knight's home for the first few months of their life. She now used it as a sort of Crystal Ball to watch the people of Ossyria and the Black Wings soldiers from time to time. This particular time she had been watching the warrior sent to deal with Mercedes only to be disappointed when the assassin lay dead on the ground of the alternate Sleeping Wood village created via a powerful spell.

"Hilla." Clytemnestra commanded.

"Yes master?" Hilla answered in return, cocking her hips to the side and leaning against her staff.

"I thought you said that your resurrected assassin could do the job?" Clytemnestra asked angrily.

"Could? My assassin _can_ do the task given to him."

"Then tell me why he is lying on the ground of an alternate Sleeping Wood once again rather than Mercedes." Hilla's face became worried and serious, picking her weight up from leaning against the staff.

"Impossible, even when he was alive in Azwan before the death of the king, he was the best assassin there was, not even Minerva or Corus was able to…" Hilla was brought to an abrupt halt when Clytemnestra held her hand up next to Hilla's face, her palm facing back to her and fingers pressed together tightly as Hilla reached for her throat and began to float in the air.

"Then if it was so hard for Minerva or Corus to do him in, then why was a weak 'Hero of Ossyria' able to best your assassin?" Clytemnestra demanded, lifting Hilla higher, her toes just far enough off the ground that she could no longer support her weight.

"I don't know Master!" she wheezed, struggling against the unseen hand wrapped around her throat.

"Then tell me what… AH!" Clytemnestra suddenly collapsed to the ground, gripping her head in pain. Hilla heaved for breath for a few seconds before getting to her feet and quickly helping her ailing master to the apparatus which quickly surrounded her, glowing with an intense blue light for a moment before dying down and easing her pain. When Clytemnestra looked up, her eyes weren't their normal dark blue; they were a comforting shade of brown. But the moment passed and her eyes returned to their normal color.

"Hilla, what happened to her?" Arkarium wheezed, appearing from thin air.

"It happened again, but this time her eyes changed color." Hilla explained. Arkarium sighed and looked back at Clytemnestra.

"Why does this keep happening to me Arkarium? I though you said that you could fix it. Eradicate this thing that trying to take over me!" she asked sharply.

"Something like this takes time Master Clytemnestra. You have been able to stand longer and longer periods away from this apparatus have you not?" Arakrium asked, at which Clytemnestra nodded, fire still in her eyes.

"Then my procedure is working. With more exposure to the power within that apparatus left to us by The Black Mage, the longer you will be able to stand away from it, giving you the power needed to keep this, presence, away. However using your powers will deplete the amount of time you can be away from it, causing this pain you are feeling." Clytemnestra cocked her head to the side slightly, furrowing her brow.

"Are you saying that as long as I don't use any kind of power that I will be able to stay away from this apparatus indefinitely?"

"No. Think of this apparatus as a power source, and you are a battery. Your body can only hold a certain amount of power from this apparatus left to us by The Black Mage. Time away from it drains that power. Using any spells or abilities drains that power even faster."

"I thought that spells and abilities were empowered by Mana?" Clytemnestra asked with an edge in her voice.

"Normally it would, however you were born without the ability to create mana, and so spells and abilities use that power instead. With continued exposure to the power within the apparatus, your capacity will increase, allowing you to be away from it for a full day, maybe even longer."

"So I can never truly be free of this apparatus?" She asked, once again a sharp edge in her voice.

"Not if you don't want to lose yourself to whatever is trying to take over you." Arkarium replied. Clytemnestra lowered her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes.

"If we are to proceed, how will I be able to get to this apparatus once a day has passed?" she asked, looking hard at Arkarium.

"Do not trouble yourself with something so trivial. I and the other disciples will make sure that it is nearby." Clytemnestra's eyes narrowed further as she thought, nodding slowly as she processed what she had been told before taking a breath to sigh.

"What of my Shadow Knights?" she asked, feeling the edge of the pain and presence die away. Arkarium looked to Hilla with raised eyebrows as if asking for her to explain since she was the one in charge of such an operation.

"They have been progressing. Your transition into the Palace should be a smooth one, Mast… excuse me, Empress Cygnus."

"Very well then; how many of the knights have been replaced? It's been three days since you've replaced Eckhart."

"Only Mihile remains and the empress of course. But what of the princess Ashura?" Hilla asked. Clytemnestra's face lost all emotion, turning to her and staring at her for almost a full minute before responding.

"What about her?" she asked flatly.

"Well, she has recently formed a contract with Shinsoo, and she is no doubt going to notice a change in the Knights and most definitely will notice once you take her mother's place. It would only be a matter of time before our plans are derailed." Hilla explained as Clytemnestra nodded in understanding.

"Eliminate her."

* * *

Ashura eventually heard about what had happened between Athena and Eckhart. It was hard to believe that something like that had happened: those two were perfect for each other! How could he simply throw their marriage away? Only a few days had passed, and now Hawkeye and Irena were acting differently as well, even Oz wasn't as bubbly as she normally was. Shinsoo seemed to constantly be on edge as well, as if his Protection State would activate at any time and he would go ballistic on the entirety of the palace.

But neither of them said anything since such accusations against the Chief Knights were taken very seriously, and without hard proof that whoever had taken their place were without a doubt fakes, she faced a serious punishment. But the strangeness of it all began affecting her dreams, sometimes seeing herself as her mom, but with slightly paler skin and long platinum blond hair. When the sun finally rose and the nightmares were finally over, she opened her eyes to see Mihile slumped over in a chair beside her bed with his cape pulled around him for a blanket while his guardian spirit of light kept watch and kept him warm.

She smiled, feeling somewhat embarrassed since he had stayed by her side the entire night to be there when she woke up. At least her mom and dad still seemed to be normal. At the breakfast table, Ashura was surprised to see Cygnus already seated and eating. Normally she wouldn't be here this early in the morning since Ashura liked to get up a little earlier and walk with Mihile to get the reports from the Night Walkers night watch after breakfast.

"Good morning Ashura. Did you sleep well?" Cygnus asked once Ashura had come around into her line of sight. Ashura swallowed hard; she just knew something wasn't right. She still sounded the same, and still looked the same, but something didn't feel right. She looked over at Shinsoo who had taken on his human form, but he seemed to be more relaxed than usual.

"Yes, I did. Thankfully dad was there since I was having some nightmares."

"Oh? What kind of nightmares?" Ashura looked at her mother for a moment, not sure if she should tell her, but if this was indeed an imposter, her life might be in danger should she let on that she was suspicious.

"I don't know what it was really; I kept dreaming that I was someone else, trying to figure out who I was and asking myself who I was." Cygnus then got up and walked over to where she was sitting, putting her arms around her and holding her close.

"I'm sorry Ashura. But I'll tell you a little secret. I had some rather strange dreams myself after I surrendered the power of Shinsoo, very similar to those that you are having now." Shinsoo smiled slightly as he turned to them both.

"You never told me this Lady Cygnus." He smiled, at which Cygnus returned it.

"Your father is one of the best Knights that I know, and I can rest easy knowing that he's there. Tell you what; perhaps tonight you can sleep in my chambers while your father watches over us both." Perhaps Ashura was just being paranoid since the other Knights were acting a little strangely. Ever since they had convened a meeting with the Guardians, Phantom and Mercedes who told them about the doll they had found, things seemed to be different in Ereve. Even the island itself felt like it shuddered in frightened anticipation. But Cygnus was the only one that she knew that could calm her like she was doing right now.

"Mom, there's something that I need to tell you, both of you. But it's something that I know is rather serious." Mihile looked up into Cygnus's eyes and nodded, signaling for all the guards, and cooks to leave closing the doors tightly behind them.

"Tell us Ashura, there is no one here but us." Mihile assured as he sat across from her. Ashura swallowed hard, but was eased when Shinsoo placed his hand on her back in reassurance.

"It started when Eckhart just about disowned Athena. Yes Eckhart has always kept to himself mostly, but marrying Athena was something that I don't think he would have ever cast off. And then after we received that message from The Guardians and the Heroes, Ereve has felt different, the Knights have been acting, strange." Mihile nodded, holding out his hand as he offered an explanation.

"Perhaps it is because of that message that they have been acting…"

"No dad, this isn't the kind of strange before a big battle. This is the kind of strange where something about the people you know just isn't right, like they've been replaced with someone that looks exactly like them. I have no hard proof of this and I know that something of this caliber can be quite serious, but it's been gnawing at me and I don't know what to do about it." Mihile sighed and nodded; yes Ashura had always been slightly higher spirited than most kids her age, but even she knew when to separate a hoax from something so serious.

"Very well, I'll inform my troops to keep an eye on the others and investigate this quietly. We may have a bigger problem on our hands than we first thought after hearing that report from Mercedes and Phantom." Ashura nodded, looking down at her hands in uncertainty.

"Perhaps we should make a flight around Ossyria, get you away from this place to calm your nerves a bit?" Shinsoo suggested at which Ashura nodded and went back to her room, changing into some clothes that didn't flap around so much, quickly taking off from Ereve. It seemed this was the one thing that her mom and dad actually approved of her doing; it felt so good to be away from all the pressure of the palace life, and there was also the fact that she could talk to Shinsoo about what she was going through, albeit, telepathically.

"_What's wrong lady Ashura? You seem unnerved."_ Shinsoo asked, as they rounded a mountain peak of Perion after about an hour.

"_I could ask the same of you Shinsoo, you've seemed tense, I mean, really tense the past three days._"

"_Then I'm glad that I'm not the only one to see the difference in the knights._"

"_You've sensed it too?_" Ashura asked with a hopeful tone.

"_Yes; a slight air of Black Magic has descended onto Ereve, but it is just small enough that it doesn't call on my Protection state._"

"_So I'm not just seeing things right?_" Shinsoo shook his head, looking over his shoulder at her and smiling, about to answer when a shadow passed over them as Eva and Mir glided next to them waving.

"Hey, I'll race ya to Kerning! I hear there's a cool place called The Fusion that I wanted to take you to!" she called, patting Mir on the neck who responded back by beating her wings harder and pulling ahead, making Ashura lean down and pat Shinsoo on the neck.

"_Come on, you aren't going to let that upstart Mir outrun you are you?"_

_"Ashura, my duty is to protect you, and a race is not under that description. Besides, do you know how worried you will make your mother?"_

_"Shinsoo, it's just for fun, it's not like we're going to be dodging fireballs or anything._" Shinsoo sighed hard as if to say 'alright', and drove his wings down with a will. Ashura screamed out her approval as they rocketed through the air past Mir in which Mir gave chase, both girls giggling and screaming in delight as they spun, dove and squeezed through the tight canyons of Perion and through the buildings of Kerning, skidding to a stop just before The Fusion.

"You so tried to knock me off!" Eva laughed as she jumped down and ran over to Shinsoo.

"I did no such thing! You were the one that crossed under me next to that sky scraper." Ashura shouted back, stepping off Shinsoo's hand as he put down on the ground.

"She is right Eva, you did have me cross under her." Mir called once she had shifted into her human form, huffing slightly out of breath, but still able to manage a laugh until Tzarax, Cygnus's new pact dragon landed before them hard enough that the ground shook, his claws sparking from the ground.

"Lady Ashura! I'm so glad I found you."Ashura huffed hard and rolled her eyes.

"Did my mother send you…" Tzarax leaned down to Ashura's level and spoke in a low voice.

"I wasn't sent by your mother, I came of my own volition. There is something wrong with your mother and I want to be able to have a second opinion. Yes, Cygnus is my master and half of my life, but even my word can be considered treason and I didn't want to start a panic. I need your opinion."

"Why didn't you go to my father?" Ashura asked, more worried than ever now that Tzarax was beginning to sense something was wrong.

"Because while he may be married to her, you have a much deeper connection to your mother and father; you were brought into this world because their life forces became one, and created you. You share their life forces and you are able to tell who your real mother is."

"But how?! I don't even know how to do that!" Ashura exclaimed until Mir put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Lady Ashura. Detecting a life force similarity is something that we dragons do naturally. You humans used to be able to do such things according to records found in a vault in the Tower of Orbis. But since such a thing had been taught less and less, you eventually lost the conscious ability to do so." Ashura nodded to Shinsoo who transformed back into his dragon form while Ashura mounted his shoulders once more.

"How can you tell that something is wrong with my mother?" Ashura asked Tzarax before they took off.

"Ever since the contract I formed with your mother, I have been able to feel a directional pull of her life force. The pull that I am feeling is not coming from the woman that is standing before me." By the time Ashura and Shinsoo had returned to Ereve it was early evening and armed guards were already standing at attention near the exit of the palace, looking as though they were ready to launch a full scale assault. When she touched down, Cygnus was the first one to come storming over to her with eyes ablaze in anger.

"Where have you been?" she demanded, grabbing hold of her arm hard enough that Ashura pulled it away and rubbed the area.

"Why the sudden armed strike mom? I was out with Shinsoo to clear my head remember?" Cygnus eyes flitted back and forth as though she were trying to remember, her facial expression lightening slightly.

"I see. Next time, be sure and tell your father or I when you are going to be leaving rather than just disappearing. I thought that someone had kidnapped you!" Ashura swallowed as Cygnus wrapped her arms around her in a concerned hug. In that moment Ashura knew; this wasn't her mother and this time she was sure. Her mother _never_ would have scolded her for flying with Shinsoo, maybe for slipping out of Ereve alone, but never for having Shinsoo with her. Ashura swallowed her concern and returned the hug when Mihile came running up to them.

"Ashura, what are you doing back so early? Usually your flights with Shinsoo last for much longer." Ashura looked back and forth between Cygnus and Mihile before quickly formulating an answer.

"I was just tired that's all." She said, rubbing her eyes to try and make her point while Shinsoo walked up to them, noticing that Cygnus looked slightly nervous.

"I see, perhaps you should get some rest then, after all a princess needs her rest." Mihile suggested, at which Ashura and Shinsoo both quickly walked to her room.

"Cygnus, why the guards? You know how Ashrua is." Cygnus sighed hard, and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose while raising her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry love; the news that the Guardians and the Heroes gave us has had me worried about what action to take." Mihile smiled and put his arms around her understandingly, waving to the guards telling them that they could disarm but to stay on alert while he led Cygnus back to her chambers.

"It's been a long day, and a lot has happened; get some rest. Things will look better in the morning." Mihile kissed her forehead, saying good night and closing her door then walked out to the court yard where he unexpectedly met Shinsoo and Ashura.

"What are you two still doing up? Ashura, you should be sleeping, a princess…"

"Mom's not right." She said cutting Mihile off.

"Ashura, what I have I told you about…"

"She's right Sir Mihile. Something is definitely different about Lady Cygnus. It's as if her presence has shifted altogether." Shinsoo cut in. Mihile became skeptical, but none of the other Chief Knights seemed to notice anything, especially Oz. However there was the interesting conversation he had with Hawkeye earlier that day, and the worries that Ashrua had spoken to him about in the morning.

"Are you _sure_ Shinsoo? Making such an accusation against Lady Cygnus for being an imposter as I'm sure you're aware holds a heavy weight, and not only because she is Ashura's mother and your former master." Shinsoo hung his head and swallowed hard, the muscles in his neck tensing in a strange wave-like motion.

"I cannot say without doubt that Lady Cygnus is not who she claims to be. My powers have become somewhat sharper since I have bonded with Ashura, but she does not have the same air around her." Mihile narrowed his eyes, looking back towards her room and then looking back to Shinsoo, beckoning him to lower his head.

"How is the air different? She is still the same woman that I married 18 years ago, so how and why does something change all of a sudden?" Mihile asked with an agitated tone, making Ashura back away from him slightly towards Shinsoo; she was always slightly afraid of Mihile when he became angry, but this was different. She was trying to tell him that something was wrong, that the woman in that room was not the mother that she had grown up with.

"To me, the air that I know around Lady Cygnus feels tranquil, assured, and confident. But who ever this woman is, she gives off the same feeling, but with an addition that…" Shinsoo shook his head and lowered his voice even further until it was nothing more than a whisper.

"She is giving off a tinge of Black Magic." Mihile's face became serious, throwing his cloak aside and exposing his sword.

"You're telling me that she's been dabbling in Black Magic?!" he hissed.

"No, not dabbling. I've felt the presence that comes from someone who's experimented with Black Magic, like Grendal; this feeling if coming from _within _her. And unless the other Chief Knights have been experimenting as well, I suspect that they too have also been replaced." Mihile nodded and looked around before reaching out and pulling Ashura close, motioning for Shinsoo to come close so that he could speak into his ear.

"I've tried to find out what's been going on since you talked with me at breakfast and haven't been able to come up with anything solid, but from what you're telling me the situation is already much bigger and much farther along than I thought. Ashura, go to your room and grab some clothes; don't take any more than you need to. Shinsoo I want you to take her and Tzarax to Perion and stay with Matthew. I trusted him and the other Guardians with my world, I think that I can trust him with your life. Don't return here until I send word and when I do, do not return without at least two of the Masters, Guardians, Heroes or High Elders, do you understand?" Ashura nodded, quickly putting her arms around him and ran to her room while Shinsoo and Mihile stood guard, keeping a sharp eye on any and everyone that walked within 20 yards of her room until she came back out with a knap sack stuffed with at least six changes of clothes and hugged Mihile once again.

"As I said, I'll send word and when I do, don't come alone." Ashura nodded tearfully as she climbed onto Shinsoo's shoulders.

"Where is Tzarax?" Ashura asked.

"I've been in communication with him telepathically after he went to search for Cygnus and told him to meet us at the Warriors Temple." Shinsoo replied, bolting into the sky making winds rush after him as he left. Mihile took a breath and reached for his sword, drawing the blade with an angry ring. He walked towards Cygnus' chambers on the verge of tears hoping that whatever Shinsoo had been sensing was wrong. A heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder and turned him around roughly and as the light from the torches hit the person's face, Mihile was shocked. He stepped back to swing when something heavy hit him over the head from behind knocking him to the ground. He remained awake only long enough look up at the person, trying to reach for his sword before everything went black.

"What about the Princess?" Irena asked, walking into the light of the torch, smiling darkly.

"Leave her for now. We can always track her down." Oz answered, the fire on the end of her staff glowing just brightly enough that the shadows on her face made her look like she were deprived of food.

"That shouldn't be too hard, seeing as how we were able to replace all of the others so easily." Hawkeye chimed, leaning against the wall under the torch and jerking his head to push the hair out of his eyes.

"Not only that, but you have me." Eckhart said smoothly, stepping into the light with his cloak pulled around his shoulders.

"And with Mihile finally replaced and Cygnus poised to strike, the people should follow her as blindly as they always have." Mihile answered, reaching down and taking the sword from the Mihile lying on the ground, shoving it into his sheath.

"Dispose of him as you did the others. On the marrow, everything begins." He said as Hawkeye threw his over his shoulder and walked to the edge of the floating island, tossing him off into the sea waters far below.

* * *

**Added a scene and did some tweeking**


	6. Chapter 5: Tensions of the Heart

Chapter 5: Tensions of the Heart

After a few good night's rest in the familiar soft beds of the Order, Luminous woke up feeling refreshed, as if the day could never be spoiled by anything. And then he looked down to his arm, seeing the strange substance embedded his skin reminding him of the terrors that he had unleashed on Lania many a time in the past few days.

"Oh Luminous, you're awake, I wasn't sure if I should come and get you since Beuwon is already, um, up and expecting you." Lania smiled as she came into his room, bringing with her a clean robe and a cup of a hot drink called Seron: a tea-like drink with honey and basil. Luminous was already regretting going out to the front chamber where he no doubt was going to receive a scolding from Beuwon about how he was a few minutes late. But there was none and was surprised to see his master completely engrossed in a book before him.

"Master Beuwon?" Luminous called, instantly making Beuwon hold up his finger, finishing a sentence before turning back to him.

"Ah, Good morning Luminous; I trust that you had a good night's rest?" Luminous felt suspicious: why was he being so unexpectedly nice to him, even after being tardy by a few minutes which he _never_ let slide.

"Yes I did. Is something wrong Master Beuwon? You seem as though, something is." Beuwon smiled nervously, walking over to him as another crystal came down and picked up the book so that it would follow him.

"I have some good news for you and some rather, disheartening news for you as well regarding your Aurora." Luminous felt a wave for the shadow magic wanting to push him over the edge and rush Beuwon, but wanting to stay in control he managed to keep it from doing anything.

"So what's the bad news?" Luminous asked shivering slightly as the wave passed.

"The bad news is that the crystals used for making an Aurora in Serenity have all been destroyed." Luminous opened his eyes slightly and furrowed his brow.

"Destroyed?! Why?" Luminous almost shouted.

"The Order of Light was witness to a massive decline in apprentices after you had been declared missing. And despite Serenity being well hidden and protected, we the elders feared the Black Wings might come for the Aurora crystals since there weren't many mages advanced enough left who could defend against such a powerful foe."

"So then you're saying that I can never restore my Aurora?!" Luminous shouted, feeling a cold shiver of shadow magic well up within him and turn his eye a bright red.

"I said that the crystals within _Serenity_ had been destroyed. That doesn't mean that _all _the crystals were destroyed. When the Order of Light had first convened, the mines of crystal were created by six Master Crystals. Once the mines were created, those six Master Crystals were hidden away throughout Ossyria should the Black Wings come searching for The Order." Lania came walking out of Luminous' room after donning her new clothes, rather liking the way the poofy sleeves and pants fit her somewhat small frame. For brief moment, she stopped and felt the strongest sense of Déjà vu she had ever encountered in her life. Sure she had felt this way before, but this time was different, almost as if she had seen Luminous in that exact stance before.

"_That can't be, this is the first time that I've ever been to this place, let alone heard of it. So why the Déjà vu?_" she thought to herself as she approached where Luminous was standing.

"I must ask you Luminous to go and retrieve the Master Crystals since I can no longer do so. Once you have found each Crystal, I ask that you bring it back here so that I can restart the crystal mines."

"Do you foresee a surge of people wanting to join the Order of Light?" Luminous asked with a devious smile.

"Magic such as yours hasn't been seen by Ossyria for over 600 years, and if what I understand about the people of the era is true, there will be a great surge. However there won't be many who will actually earn the title of Mage since all they are interested in is power." Beuwon growled, already dreading the hundreds of young people coming into Serenity wanting to be made a powerful mage without going through the motions of actually trying to help others. Luminous chuckled as he watched his master's face distort at the thought.

"Once I have restarted the crystal mines, I will leave the Master Crystals in your care." Luminous jerked his head back in surprise at his statement.

"With me? Why would you do such a thing?"

"The Master Crystals are more powerful than the ones that will come from the mines. In addition, they will not fade if not used. A friend of mine brought a book to me just a few days before you arrived at my request which depicted the history and acts of you who were called "The Heroes of Ossyria". I must apologize for my previous judgment of you being a power hungry child: you and the others gave your own lives to protect all of Ossyria. Now that I know what you have done, I have faith that the Master Crystals will not be used in malice; at least not intentionally. Now go, I only know of one crystal's location in Orbis guarded by a fairy named Kriel; she will be able to tell you where and who is guarding the next one." Luminous grinned broadly and began jogging out of the entrance when he noticed Lania standing near the sleeping quarters with a blank stare on her face.

"Lania, are you coming?" She shook her head for a moment before quickly walking after him arm in arm. Beuwon watched her closely while lights in the crystals above him flickered for a moment: that girl looked strangely familiar. Who was it that she reminded him of?

When they finally arrived in Orbis, Luminous could only stare at the scenery around him: so many memories were held in this place for him, especially the nervous lump in his throat he felt when he first saw Minerva. Upon entering the city itself, he was somewhat shocked to see so many people running around as if this place were nothing more than another city.

"Don't these people know where they are?" Luminous asked, looking around and catching sight of the giant pair of wings on the sides of a building in the center of the city that had served as Minerva's throne room.

"I believe they do. However they care little for what this place once stood for." Lania answered, her voice almost sounding wistful, as though she were recalling something from the past. When Luminous turned to her, her face almost looked saddened and her voice sounded as if she were older.

"Lania?" Lania shook her head slightly and turned to him.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Are you feeling alright? You looked like you were on the verge of tears." Luminous asked, while Lania lowered her brow in confusion.

"I was? I don't _feel_ sad; why did I say something?" She asked, wiping her eyes. Luminous shook his head, telling her disregard his question.

"So we need to head for Kriel's house? I've heard that she was one of Minerva's personal attendants back then." Lania said as she led Luminous through the city. But Luminous' mind was elsewhere: there was the way she had spoken earlier, sounding markedly similar to the only woman that he had known within the Order of Light by the name of Lucia, Beuwon's daughter. Now that he thought about it, Lania looked quite a bit like Lucia did save for her height since Lucia was a bit taller, making memories come back to him.

_"Luminous, you must get up, or else Master Beuwon will scold you again." Lucia called, shaking his shoulder._

_"Come on Lucia, its three in the morning! Beuwon's lessons don't begin until six." Luminous answered back, still half asleep when he was suddenly met with a blast of cold air as Lucia pulled the covers off._

_"Alright fine, there's just something that I want to show you. Quickly! Get dressed." She called, tossing his cold clothes at him and leaving his room. Once dressed, Luminous was taken by the hand and dragged outside to the top of the Golem's Temple with Lucia's hand over his eyes._

_"Why did you want to drag me outside again, I could still use another three hours sleep."_

_"Oh be quiet and just go where I'm leading you." Lucia hissed, stopping him on what felt to be a patch of grass before pulling her hands away. Below was a pool of water, which Luminous had often seen during the day while training. But he had never seen the pool at night, dazzled by the sight of hundreds of fireflies hovering across the surface and dancing in the air above it._

_"They only come out at night." Lucia said, sitting down in the grass and watching the bugs as they danced before looking up to Luminous with a slightly sad smile._

_"They're so much alike."_ Luminous thought. It took a bit finding Kriel since everyone never knew who they were talking about, but at last they found her managing a small general store.

"Welcome to my little Shoppe, I hope that you can find everything that you need. My name is Kriel and if you can't just call for me and I'm sure that I'll be able to find it." a voice said and when Luminous turned to see who it belonged to, he was unexpectedly embraced.

"Luminous! I thought I'd never see you again!" the voice said as he tried to pull out of the embrace to try and see who it was. When he did manage to finally pull her away, Kriel beamed at him, spreading her wings and hovering in place.

"Have we met before?" Luminous asked.

"Have you really forgotten?! I was Minerva's attendant when you came for training: it's me Kriel!" Luminous opened his eyes wide, looking her over for a moment, recognizing the thoughtful silver eyes and short ruby red hair he remembered as Minerva would train them.

"My my, you've grown some since I last remember you. This here is Lania." Kriel nodded to her for a moment before folding her magnificent wings in and landing on the ground.

"What happened to you? After 600 years I thought for sure that you were dead."

"It's… not a story that I like to tell. We did come here on another matter: my master Beuwon said that you are guarding one of the Master Aurora crystals." Kriel seemed surprised that he would ask such a thing.

"The _Master _Crystal? What do you need that for? I thought you had your own crystals?" Kriel asked as she turned and began looking through boxes and shelves.

"I did, but I need the Master Crystal to help get mine back. It's a long story too." Luminous answered as she came back with something wrapped in burlap and tied with a shredding twine string.

"Well, you'll have to tell me about it some time. I've kept it safe all these years." She smiled as Luminous pulled on the twine to open it, revealing a glowing light blue sliver of crystal no bigger than his thumb. Gently he wrapped the burlap around the crystal once more and tucked it into his pocket. After saying their goodbyes, Luminous turned to leave and was just clearing the threshold of the door when something felt like it was coming for him through the air. Quickly he spun his staff as fast as he could and deflected the object before turning back to Lania.

"Lucia, stay back." he commanded, pushing Lania back into the shop.

"_Lucia? Who is Lucia?_" she wondered.

* * *

Athena absently drew her bow time and time again, using her day off to practice her art behind the grand lodge in El Nath. Though she cursed herself with each arrow she shot as they would only hit the outer ring of her target, or only hit the hay bales. She tried to quiet her mind, but the questions would only swirl and plague her focus: what had she done to prompt Eckhart no longer loving her? Was he truly using her all this time? Was he cheating on her? Why did he suddenly hate her? Why? Why? Why? Why?!

With a frustrated swing of her hand, she sent what remained in her quiver scattering across the ground, moist from the partially melted snow. She felt the tap of a hand on her shoulder, turning to see Kyrin with a cup of hot tea for her.

"Here, you look like you could use this." Athena thanked her, warming her hands while trying to hide the tiny tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"It's alright to cry you know." Kyrin said, stepping up beside her watching Athena out of the corner of her eye while her grip tightened on the cup and she grit her teeth.

"Why? Why did he do it?" She hissed through her teeth.

"It could very well not have been him that acted that way you know." Kyrin said, instantly making Athena loosen her grip and ease her tense jaw. However she quickly dismissed it. She knew Eckhart, and there were time that he would keep something secret from her, even his feeling sometimes so this could just be part of that secret side of Eckhart that she didn't know.

"There is no need to try and tell me that it wasn't him Kyrin." Athena answered, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better Kyrin. I was speaking with Matthew before I came back here. Ashura has been sent to the Warrior's Temple for protection at the Order of Mihile. According to the princess, there is something seriously wrong happening with the Chief Knights as well as the Empress herself, as if they've been replaced." Kyrin said, making a sting once again hit Athena in the heart. She heard the words Kyrin was speaking, but they almost refused to be registered.

"Are you trying to tell me that Eckhart didn't say those things? That he didn't tear out my heart and walk all over it?" Athena asked, drinking her tea slowly as tears began brimming.

"_Your_ Eckhart would never say those things. I've known his as long as you have, and I know that he would never say those things. He may be mysterious sometimes, but there is one thing that he would never, ever just give up: you." Kyrin said, her own words even triggering an ancient memory of when her first crush dumped her and Athena was there to help put her shattered heart back together.

"I know that you may be grasping for some kind of truth to ease the pain, and I am here offering it to you. Eckhart didn't disown you. Do you see that ring on your hand? Both Oz and I spent weeks helping him choose a design that would best suit you. You know him; the shy but earnest man that he is. He would never simply abandon you for no reason." Athena picked up her hand and let the diamond within it sparkle, remembering the day that Eckhart asked her to marry him. Aran, Kalib, and even Jin had all been men in her life that she loved, only to eventually leave her. But Eckhart didn't: since all the men she loved in her life had moved on or were taken from her, she feared that Eckhart would do the same. Perhaps that is what her real fear was, and she feared losing him forever.

The cold that still hung in the air began to chill her once her tea was gone as hope began to take root: was there a chance that the Eckhart within Ereve was indeed an imposter and she hadn't been disowned by the man that she loved? Was she indeed allowed to have the love she longed for? Kyrin saw her begin to crumble, tears running down her cheeks from under her long hair glistening in the sunlight.

"_Eckhart, please, come back to me. Where ever you are, please come to me and tell me that you love me._"

* * *

"How many valuables did you steal after getting those cards from Minerva? I thought your ship was where you kept all your spoils?" Mercedes asked as she let herself be led to a rocky formation in the middle of Cloud Park and into a cave, housing a large elegant door held shut by a huge padlock.

"Mercedes, didn't you learn anything from when we trained with her?" Phantom asked with a suave reply, taking off his hat and walking up to the lock while looking into the air as if trying to remember the combination.

"You never taught me anything. The only thing I was told was that you were from a desert town south of the Victoria Province, and even then that information was questionable." Mercedes huffed. Phantom smirked, rolling the tumblers to a combination and pulling on it, only to be disappointed when it didn't open.

"Well that's a good thing, since a thief never gives up his trade secrets, unless it's to an apprentice." Mercedes crossed her arms and leaned against the door, smiling deviously.

"Like Raven?" Phantom looked at her in the middle of a combination, questions burning in his eyes.

"When did you…"

"You told me just before we finished our training. He was a great man from what you told me, almost like a father to you." Phantom swallowed hard, the mere mention of his mentor's name taking him back to when he first met him.

"He was the closest thing I had to one, that's all." Phantom replied coldly as he finished the combination and was once again frustrated when it didn't open, even more so now that he could hear Raven's voice in the back of his mind taunting him.

"_What's the matter? The greatest thief ever can't even break into his own treasure vault after forgetting the combination? And here I was thinking that your will to live all those years ago actually meant something._" Phantom grit his teeth as the grip on his cane became tight enough that it began to bend in his hand.

"_It's no wonder that waste of time died; you couldn't even see what was going to happen to her worthless hide!_"

"ENOUGH!" Phantom suddenly shouted, slamming his cane over and over again on the lock.

"I… AM… THE GREATEST… THIEF… IN… OSSYRIA!" he shouted, finally breaking the lock and kicking it out of the door rings hard as hazy black feathers flashed into existence when he jumped at it. Looking back at Mercedes, he composed himself opening the doors to his vault with a hard pull and storming over to one of the heavily weighed down tables of gold and gems, looking through a few jade encrusted boxes here and there.

"What was that all about back there?" Mercedes asked gently, picking up a palm sized diamond and admiring the way the light reflected off its facets.

"Just some, unresolved issues I've had with Raven." Phantom grunted, searching through box after box, mumbling to himself and naming off different treasures until he found what he had been seeking.

"Ah, here we are." From a rather long box, he pulled some weathered papyrus scrolls, opening them on the floor side by side which once they were all open, formed a circle with runes written all around its rim.

"What is this? Are you cheating your way through the Orders?" Mercedes asked. Phantom chuckled half heartedly and stepped into the circle, striking a gentlemen's pose while putting both hands on the top of his cane.

"My dear Mercedes, cheating is such a strong word. I prefer the term, accelerated. Besides, I don't want to be left in the dust by a queen." he answered, closing his eyes as the circle imprinted on the papyrus glowed and the light emanating from it was absorbed by Phantom making him begin to glow until the light stopped all together.

"Ah, there; that's better. Now I finally have the power to use… this!" He reached to the small deck of cards on his belt, pulling out a single card and slinging it out, making a few cards made of red light appear around him, then shoot forward and burry themselves into the wall of his vault. But no sooner had he performed the attack then the newly forming cards around him fizzled out and the card that he had slung returned to his hand.

"Impressive. Too bad you can only use it once." Mercedes teased.

"Ha ha! Now you're getting into the spirit of it! But the fact still remains that I can use it." Phantom smiled, putting on his hat once again and rolling up the papyrus before beginning the long walk back into Orbis. They were just crossing into the city when Mercedes felt a familiar tinge that signaled Black Magic was near, very near.

"Phantom, do you feel that?" She asked, reaching for her guns and priming the Spirit Arrows.

"Mercedes, relax. Besides you'll cause a scene if you start an attack here." Phantom chimed, placing a hand on her shoulder as he walked out into the open, feeling the wave of cold settle into his chest. It wasn't anything like that of the Black Mage's power, but it was defiantly Black Magic and brought back terrible memories of when he and the others stormed the Temple of Time. Despite the feeling he kept his cool, walking around the city as though nothing were wrong while the scores of women and female fairies would all be drawn to him as though he were a light, making Mercedes boil and stand with her back against a wall trying to look away from him.

She was just about to break up the gathering when the feeling became stronger, causing her to look all around to find where the feeling was coming from. Phantom on the other hand simply turned around in the sea of his admiring fans, shaking some of their hands or posing for a picture until he reached to his belt and flung one of his cards directly at a young man walking out of a shop.

The young man then looked as if he pushed someone back into the shop and twirled the double ended staff in a blur that knocked the card away, lowering his stance and readying to attack with bright light flashing at one end of his staff. Phantom cocked his head to the side when something about the young man looked familiar, especially his fighting stance. There was only one person he knew of to use a stance like that.

"Luminous? Is that you?" Phantom called as the young man relaxed and squinted his eyes slightly, studying him.

"Phantom?!" Mercedes was about to jump out from her position when she too recognized him and jumped down, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Luminous! You're alright!" She shouted with happiness as Phantom pushed through the crowd and made his way over to them, draping his arms over them both in trying to give Luminous a hug as well.

"Mercedes?! I can't believe this! You guys made it out! What happened to you guys?" Luminous asked after being able to pry them both away from him. It felt like a blur, but Phantom and Mercedes filled him in on what had happened once the battle had been won.

"So what about you? You don't look anything like the scrawny little kid I remember." Phantom taunted. Luminous laughed quietly.

"Actually, I was unfrozen a few years ago and have been living with a girl who found me by the name of Lania. In fact she's just inside the shop. Lania, come on out it's alright." Luminous called. Nervously she came out, recognizing the two heroes from 600 years ago from paintings she had seen in books and felt at ease, but still stood close to Luminous. Just as he was about to introduce her properly, Latimer came running to them, quickly saying hello to Luminous before delivering his message.

"The empress just announced that she wants you present in Ereve: it sounds important." Phantom chuckled, leading them to the pod that he had used to come down and hauling the four of them up to his ship pointing the helm to Ereve. Luminous stood at the bow, letting the wind blow through his hair coming down off the nervous high he had been pushed into when Phantom attacked as well as getting the Master Crystal from Kriel.

The feeling of power that came from the crystal was amazing, but there was a sinister side to it. He could feel the shadow magic within him becoming stronger, and he hadn't even put the Crystal into his staff yet. Or was this feeling coming from Ereve since it was known for having a strange empowering energy emanating from it? In either case, it was rather unsettling, being taken aback when Mercedes put a hand on his shoulder.

"Luminous, what happened to your eye?" Luminous sighed hard and looked away, trying to make his hair cover it before beginning his explanation, one that he had been dreading for some time.

"This came from The Black Mage…"

* * *

It had been at least a week since Dureau had been recruited into the outings with the High Guard of Edelstien, looking for the cells of Black Wings and he enjoyed it thoroughly. Maybe even a little too much. Often some of the others that were assigned to his squad would arrive on the scene just before he was about to kill the last of them. But sometimes they would arrive too late, finding him holding a corpse and shaking the blood from his mace, ready to reach for another.

"Dureau! How many times have I told you that we of the High Guard aren't judge, jury, and executioner? We are to apprehend them and bring them to the Empress for their punishment." Claudine scolded, suddenly finding herself skidding backwards when Dureau opened one of his wings and hit her.

"And I've told you time and again that I am not a part of you 'High Guard'. I am simply coming along since I don't have the resources to track said disciples of my former master. You wouldn't understand what it means to lose family and have the ones responsible for it receive 'justice' in allowing them to live." Dureau answered sharply, walking quickly away with Mastema trotting close behind, jumping on his shoulder until Claudine's voice cut through the air in an emotional scream.

"I do know what it's like! Those bastards killed my little brother!" she screamed tearfully, making Dureau look back over his shoulder and grin.

"Then why refuse the revenge that you too so desperately want?" he asked softly.

"Because that would be the easy thing to do! My job is to find out anything I can about them and use it to _stop_ them before they hurt anyone else so that no one ever has to go through what I did!" Dureau simply looked forwards and shook his head slowly.

"Then you fight a losing battle Claudine." He said quietly, walking back to his room once more while Mastema spoke into his ear.

"Master Dureau, you don't have to stoop to the level of these humans." Dureau said nothing as he stormed through the base until he reached his living quarters where Mastema jumped off and sat in her little bed with a bright orange blanket.

"Granted that you are no longer part of the Black Wings, but neither are you from this world and you aren't part of their 'High Guard'. So why do you even listen to that woman's constant nagging? I'm this close to putting my paws..." she held up her paws a couple inches apart before stopping and looking at them for a second.

"… I mean, hands, in her mouth and ripping out her tongue myself." Dureau sighed, hanging his coat up and when he turned, revealed a gash from the top of his right shoulder to the base of his right wing.

"Master! You're injured!" Mastema cried, jumping from her bed and over to a shelf next to him where she began licking the wound. Dureau reached up, grabbing her by her nape and putting her down on his bed, craning his neck to see the wound better.

"This is nothing that will slow me down." he said with a sneer, taking off his shirt and turning to see the gash in the mirror while tenderly touching the flesh around it.

"How did this happen?" Mastema asked, walking across the bed and worriedly lifting her paw as though she were trying to touch his wound before catching a glimpse of Dureau's rather pleasant physique in the mirror.

"Someone tried to sneak up behind me when I entered the base." Dureau grunted a bit as he touched the wound, trying to close the skin while activating his Ageis and speeding up the healing process. Mastema wanted to help, but in her current state it just wasn't possible until she began to just get up and walk over to him, assessing the wound. She put her hands on either side, pressing the flesh together so that it would heal more quickly. Dureau rocked his head side to side for a moment as the pain began to die down when he realized there was another pair of hands pushing his flesh together. He turned around to see Mastema back in her human form and for a moment they just stared at each other while Dureau could hear her heart begin to beat harder.

Mastema's cheeks flared bright red when she realized that she wasn't touching his back, but rather his firm upper chest, just staring into those ruby red eyes of his. She almost felt as if she weren't in control of her actions, feeling herself rock up onto the balls of her feet and close her eyes as she craned her neck slightly to reach his lips. All at once, she reverted to her cat form and fell face first onto the ground. She could hear Dureau chuckle under his breath, but in her embarrassment she didn't want to look him in the eyes and instead ran out of the door and down the hall, beating herself up as thoughts raced through her mind.

"_Stupid stupid stupid stupid… There's no way that Dureau would feel the same way I do! He's so hell bent on avenging the deaths of his brother and mother that there isn't any room left for me in his heart. And besides, he's a prince and I'm just a servant, not a drop of royal blood in me!_" her thoughts screamed until she reached the roof of the High Guard garage and sat just watching the world go by her below. Inside Dureau continued pushing his flesh back together until it had fully closed. It would be another day or so before it was completely healed, so until then he would need to find someone to repair his shirt. Or find a tailor's shop to make him a new one which was actually the more favorable decision given that the shirt was stained. He threw his coat back on, walking out of the garage with intentions of finding said tailor when a mech with the young human woman, Dumia came running in calling for Claudine.

"Over here Dumia, what's the big hurry?" Claudine asked as Dumia turned and opened the cockpit.

"I just got word from my dad that something's going on in Ereve and that the Empress wants all of you there." Claudine nodded and reached for her top hat and mask.

"You too demon slayer." She called with an edge in her voice.

"I won't be going, I have other matters that need…"

"If you want to be treated like one of us then you have to do as one of us. You're coming to Ereve if I have to drag your sorry ass there myself." she shouted as she climbed into one of the carriers for the SG-88 armor. Dureau huffed, jumping up and forcing his wings down hard to get into the small flyer.

"What happened to your shirt?" Belle asked when she saw the torn shirt with partially dried blood in his hand.

"The doings of my latest outing to find Black Wings." He replied shortly, tucking the shirt into one of the pockets of his coat. Looking back to the garage, he saw Mastema sitting atop it with what he guessed as a look of confusion on her face: she had been acting strange the past few days. Maybe it had something to do with that odd laser beam she had fired at herself in order to regain her human form. But that was some time ago: was it something else? Being that he had come to this world as a baby, he knew little of the Khyune Law or customs beyond the fact that he was supposed to be the prince and almost instinctively knew that Mastema was of a lower class than he. He would have a talk with her later to find out what it was that had been affecting her. She was a good servant and he considered her a friend, and when something was affecting one of his own, it worried him.

* * *

"But why can't I go? It's Ereve we're talking about here." Ashura whined.

"Ashura, your father said that he would send word once it was safe and until then you were to stay with me here in Perion." Matthew said firmly.

"We may be The Guardians, but we still have to follow the words and requests of the Royal Chief Knights, even if they are our friends." Lillianne added as Talu jumped onto her shoulder and rubbed his head against her cheek. Angrily Ashura crossed her arms and stamped her foot.

"But I'll be with you guys. Not only that but Shinsoo and Tzarax will be there too; I'll be protected." Ashura argued.

"And if that isn't enough? For all we know the Empress could be an imposter as well as the other knights, waiting for you to come back and spring a trap to kill you. Once that happens there'd be no one left alive who could dispute their validity besides Mihile. One voice speaking against the Empress, imposter or not, carries quite a bit of weight as I'm sure Mihile told you." Matthew explained. Ashura nodded her head sadly as Matthew hung his head and put his arms around her.

"It's not that I don't want you to go back to Ereve, but orders are orders. You father trusts me enough to take care of you until whatever is happening is over, so trust me at least that I have your best interest in mind."

"But what about the order for you to go to Ereve?" Ashura asked when Lillianne set a gauntleted hand on her shoulder in reassurance, holding up a small scroll.

"This is a letter of representation. I am going as a representative of Rein as well as Perion, so there shouldn't be any problem. The others are going to be there as well and once the meeting is over, I'll speak with them to see what it is they think is going on. Helen should be able to pick up on any of the minute details that we'll miss." Matthew nodded and kissed Lillianne, watching her as she rode on Tzarax's back towards Ereve.

* * *

The Empress took a breath and stepped out from the elegant gateway and into the large courtyard where everyone had gathered around a large table circular table.

"Thank you all for coming. In the past week, I have received reports from my knights that the activity of the Black Wings cells has been on a steady increase and I wish to confirm that with you Guardians and High Guard." She asked, turning to those of the High Guard.

"So it seems. The High Guard has also noticed this steady increase in their activity, especially in moving back through Edelstein." Checky replied.

"Oh my, are you in need of any assistance at this time?"

"No your majesty, not at this time." Claudine replied shortly. The Empress turned her eyes down slightly and nodded.

"Very well. I understand your hesitation, but I do not intend to repeat what happened in the past. What of you masters? Has there been any increase in activity lately?" she asked, nodding to Mercedes and Phantom when she saw them walk up to the table with another young man. Helen noticed that the Empress's eyes looked as if they widened slightly when she saw him, as if she were surprised to see him.

"Perhaps nothing as bold as what's been happening in Edelstein but yes; we have noticed that their actions have become bolder in the past few days such as making random attacks within the villages, even in broad daylight. However it is strange to note that most of their activity seems to be centered in and around Henesys." Jenny answered, again Helen noticing that the Empress eyes changed slightly, this time looking as though there was a hint of satisfaction in them.

"I see: Are you in need of any assistance at this time?" The Empress asked, to which Jenny shook her head.

"I personally am not in need of assistance since there has been a recent surge of new archers, but perhaps the others are in need." Then Empress looked to each of them, and each one declined the need of assistance, but all the same were thankful for the readily available help. Phantom listened quietly in the back as he casually leaned against a tree and watched the Empress's actions carefully: they all seemed to be a bit overly pronounced, as if she was indeed _trying_ to pretend to be the Empress.

Closing his eyes he activated the spell within his left eye, staring at her intently for a few moments trying to see behind the mask that she obviously wore and reveal who she really was. However all his attempts seemed to be failing: every look that he passed only revealed that this was indeed the Empress. Finally he quieted the spell when he couldn't find anything, but just knew that she wasn't the right one; it was hard to explain.

"Very well then, here is what I need from all of you: the Black Mage's rule 18 years ago was almost set in stone because of the Pillars of Time, something I'm sure you all remember." Mercedes looked to Phantom who raised his eyebrows and shook his head, then looked to Luminous who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Pillars of Time? Why the interest all of a sudden? They disappeared after we defeated The Mage." Lillianne asked with surprise, leaning forward to the table as Talu jumped down and sniffed the table in interest. Helen noticed that the Empress looked uncomfortable, shifting in her seat slightly and looking to Oz who answered.

"I intercepted some inelegance from a Black Wings cell that stated they were looking for the Pillars of Time as well as the Twelve Seals of Ossyria. You should know the power of the Pillars more than anyone, and if they manage to get their hands on them, well, I'll leave that to your imagination." Helen looked to Olsen, meeting his eyes for a brief moment as an entire argument flitted between their eyes on whether or not such a request should be honored or denied, esspecially with suspicions of the Empress's legitimacy. But then again, no one knew where the Pillar were. For all they knew, Yoshumari might know where they could be since him and the Pillars both disappeared after the battle.

"I can find the Seals your majesty." Evan said, seated on the far side of the table across from Helen.

"Thank you Evan, that would be most appreciated. I think that it would be in our best interest if the Pillars and the Seals were to be brought here to Ereve where the royal guard can keep a close eye on them, out of the Black Wing's hands."

"Very well then, we The Guardians shall search for the pillars. Though I wouldst stress to thee, nothing may come of them for they hast been missing from the defeat of The Black Mage." Helen answered confidently, making Mercedes and Luminous both look to her with a worried expression: how could she agree to something like this so easily? The Empress could very well be an imposter that worked for the Black Wings!

"As will we of the High Guard. I'll be sure and ask The Guardians for information regarding them." Claudine replied as well. Mercedes looked to the young man sitting across the table and recognized him as the man she had seen flying into Edelstein and disappeared, mistaking him for Frued. The woman standing next to him she didn't recognize since she seemed to be one of the… what were they called? The Nova? Her mind suddenly processed what it was that the young man had said: bring the Seals of Ossyria here to Ereve?! Was he out of his mind!

"Thank you all for coming here to hear my request. I await news of your finding them: May the goddess guide you." Cygnus said with a pleasant smile as she rose from her chair and went back into the castle. No sooner had the meeting ended than Mercedes was walking with great strides over to the young man, trying to keep her calm.

"Excuse me, what was your name again?" she asked, just as Luminous and Phantom caught up to her.

"My name is Evan, Dragon Mage. And you must be Mercedes, Phantom and Luminous." Phantom smiled and nodded while Luminous did as well, but Mercedes' grin seemed forced.

"How very astute: you wouldn't happen to know who Freud was, would you?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes, yes I do. From what I've read of history I'm supposedly his great great successor. Before I go on, I must say that it is an honor to meet…"

"Are you _trying_ to send all of Ossyria to hell?! Do you realize what handing over the Seals of Ossyria to her might cause?!" Mercedes seethed.

"They'll be here for safe keeping." Evan said with an unsure tone.

"Can you not feel it? There is Black Magic emanating from the Empress like a stench, and you're telling me that you can't feel it? Freud would never have missed something so important. And he would never think of bringing the Seals here to her."

"Mercedes, perhaps we should inform him of what's…"

"No Phantom, I will speak my mind. This young welp is barely old enough to be out on his own and he is making decisions as if he knows what is best."

"What is so wrong about bringing the seals here to Ereve where they will be safe? And what's this you said about Black Magic coming from her?" Evan asked, suddenly feeling a spike in Mir's power who stood just beside him, seeing that her eyes had narrowed to mere slits as Phantom explained.

"Not long ago, The Guardian's children, Mercedes and I found a doll in one of the Child Puppeteer's hideouts containing a message. Apparently there was a contingency plan, should the Mage fail in his attempt." He stepped before Mercedes as a precaution to the young man.

"But do you know what this back up plan was?" Evan asked.

"Not without some doubt. But Princess Ashura has said that there was something wrong with the Empress, and who better to know her own mother." Lillianne replied. Evan sat thinking for a bit, before Mercedes came at him again.

"Freud would never think of stooping to something like this. Even if Aria had requested it, he still would have found it suspicious." Evan became agitated, standing to his full height and leaning in closer to Mercedes.

"_You_ weren't around to watch the hell that The Guardians and I had to endure when the Black Mage was resurrected. If you had been around then, you would know that any precaution that we can take to avoid the Black Wings from getting the upper hand is a calculated risk! We even managed to keep four of the twelve Pillars of Time out of the Mage's hand for a time, and even that plan failed. So what would you have us do? Sit around and leave the Seals where they are and wait for the Black Wings to find them? Or actually go out to retrieve them and bring them back to Ereve where they stand a better chance of being protected?" Evan asked loudly, staring Mercedes in the eye for a long while before turning away and running after Mir who transformed and flew off in the direction of Victoria.

"He does have a point Mercedes." Luminous said finally. Mercedes looked back at him hard, fighting every fiber in her body to reach for her guns and shoot him through the heart.

"And what do you mean by that?" she asked with a hard tone.

"In my studies during my time in the Order of Light, I came across these, Pillars of Time. They were actually similar to the Seals of Ossyria; a way for a mage to encrypt their spell so that only they could break it." Helen nodded to him, picking up his explanation.

"Marry. However the pillar's whereabouts art currently unknown, and hath been so for 18 years. Yea if we wast to search, as I said 'ere, I doubt they would be found." Mercedes shook her head, crossing her arms.

"That still leaves the Seals. Minerva herself said that those seals were the keys to the World Maple Tree. Even if there is a seal protecting it from any malicious person, anyone who has the Seals can undo the spell and open the gateway to the tree."

"All the more reason to bring them here to Ereve for safe keeping." The voice of Claudine interrupted, making everyone look back to her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. But with what you say, then it is all the more important that we get those seals into safe hands." Claudine argued, but Helen countered her.

"I agree with thee that the seals wilt be protected, however the rumors of this place art too great to endue them hither." Silently she nodded to Claudine who momentarily raised her eyebrows and nodded in return before turning to leave for Edelstein once more. Mercedes still didn't like the idea of having the Seals moved from their place, but at least the perceived hiding place for them now was better than here in Ereve where Black Magic could be felt everywhere.

"It was good to see you two again, and though a bit tense, to see Evan. He resembles Frued quite a bit as well as seen and done much, but he still has a lot to learn before he is on the same plane as Freud. Alas I must return to Serenity, so Phantom if you wouldn't mind taking Lania and I back to the Golem's temple outside of Henesys, I would be very grateful." Luminous requested. Phantom bowed his agreement and turned to leave, noticing that Mercedes stayed, staring at the castle intently as though trying to see within it.

"Mercedes, are you coming?" She hesitated for a moment, but peeled herself away and followed after him: the Empress still seemed like the one she had met when Phantom appeared, but there was just something about her that didn't sit right, not to mention that the cold feeling of Black Magic was everywhere on this island now. What did it all mean?

* * *

"I trust that your request went heeded as anticipated Empress?" Magnus asked in a cool tone while leaning against the far wall of Clytemnestra's bed chamber, where the large apparatus hovered just beside the soft bed.

"That it did, and far more easily than expected." Clytemnestra replied, letting the gold disperse from her hair for the platinum blond and the paleness of her skin return as she let herself be embraced by the apparatus.

"However I do think that The Guardians and the Heroes suspect something; be sure to keep an eye on them. How is Arkarium's task progressing?" Clytemnestra asked, turning her gaze to the Nova. Magnus chuckled under his breath and picked his weight off the wall, walking before her with his arms crossed then reached for the massive sword on his back, thumbing the edge thoughtfully.

"He's a bit slow, though things have been progressing."

"I sense a snag Magnus, out with it." she demanded, making Magnus turn a wild and sick grin towards her, cutting the skin of his thumb and letting the blood run down the honed edge.

"There is a faction that has recently begun pulling its own weight again and has been interfering with his work." Magnus said, putting his thumb in his mouth and sucking on it for a moment. Clytemnestra thought about it for a moment before nodding her head in understanding and letting out a long sigh.

"The Silent Crusade; I thought Bastille had laid them to ruin when the Black Wings offered him a seat of power?"

"Not from what I hear." Orca's playful voice said, appearing from thin air and hovering on the balcony.

"From what I hear they just melted into the shadows and helped where they could. Now it seems they've gotten a new leader and are beginning to move quite quickly." Orca continued, making Clytemnestra purse her brow.

"Do you know who their leader is?" Orca shook her head, filing her nail again to make sure that it was perfect.

"The only lead I have is that it's someone going by the name of Black Phoenix. Beyond that there isn't much else I can tell you." Clytemnestra nodded, turning to Magnus.

"Go and assist Arkarium in any way you can to help speed up his research. Orca, I want you to find out anything you can on this Black Phoenix and report back to me as soon as you do." Both of them quickly disappeared to their tasks, leaving her to her thoughts and rest within the embrace of the apparatus when a gentle breeze blew through the window. Clytemnestra casually opened her eyes to see a man in a leather trench coat with enormous black angel's wings tucked neatly behind him.

"You must be Yoshumari. I have read quite a bit about what you did, infiltrating the Black Mage's castle as a spy." Yoshumari let a grin play across his face before becoming serious again and locking gazes with her.

"Don't patronize me. I know who you are, and you _will_ fail, just as you did before." This time Clytemnestra smiled darkly, her pale lips revealing her white teeth below.

"My my, aren't we perceptive." She said in a whisper, until Yoshumari held up a thumb sized, red-orange gem, then placed it on the small nightstand next to the bed.

"You are either quite bold, or quite foolish to bring me the first of the Pillars of Time. You do realize that with this, I am one step closer to controlling a power that not even Minverva herself could stop, if she were alive that is." She sneered as Yoshumari walked away and stepped up onto the balcony railing, looking back at her over his shoulder.

"Perhaps. But _she_ could, and _she_ is the only one that you truly fear." Holding out his arm, his hand was engulfed by black power, solidifying into a large sword that looked like it was full of stars. Clytemnestra readjusted herself within the apparatus while a scowl came over her face while Yoshumari continued.

"And when the time comes, I will be there you kill you myself. You may have had the power to overcome me then, but now you possess a body with far lower limits and I will easily kill you this time." he growled, dispersing the sword into the air, crouching as though ready to take off.

"So what is stopping you from killing me now when I am at my weakest, Prince of the Seraphim? Or should I call you, Dragon?" Clytemnestra asked. Yoshumari simply looked over his shoulder and smiled.

"I want the people of Ossyria to see you for the monster that you really are. Once you have been subjected to the full measure of the wrath that you have sown, and all your dreams have been reduced to ashes, only then will I kill you." He said before bolting into the sky, making a wind follow after him. Clytemnestra could only chuckle to herself, shrugging off the apparatus and reaching delicately for the gem while pressing her thumb and forefinger together around it. It was disappointing when nothing happened, so she pressed again, pushing a bit of her power through the gem, and still nothing happened. Again and again she pressed and pushed, but nothing happened until in her agitation she pinched her fingers together hard, breaking the glass imitation and slicing her fingers open, making black blood drip to the ground and burn a hole in the carpet below her.

"_I should have know as much._ YOSHUMARI!" she howled, but only Yoshumari heard, smiling to himself as he flapped his wings harder to return to his hiding place where the Silent Crusade was slowly getting back on its feet. It was a place on the northern coast of the Minar Forest near the Nihal Desert where Victoria Island was said to have once been. Once landing, Yoshumari quickly made his way back to the leader's tent, kneeling down to one knee in front of the woman that had taken command.

"Rise Yoshumari. Did you complete your task?"

"Yes Phoenix, and she couldn't have been more eager." The long black haired woman nodded, allowing Yoshumari to return to the others within the camp and help with anything that he could while Phoenix returned to her tent. She wore close fitting, black leather armor, as well as a black cloak around her shoulders. In addition, she had painted her eyes heavily with black eyeliner and even black lipstick.

"Babe, the black is just not befitting you." a man said, as he came into the tent.

"Brilliance, I've told you that if I am to help the People of Ossyria, I must do so as another. I've spent too long away from everyone as some kind of untouchable thing that lords over them. Even though I know _of_ their suffering, one can never truly understand it until one has experienced it."

"But why black of all colors? Couldn't you have picked a color that was a little more, you know, hope giving?" Phoenix let her shoulders drop, looking in the mirror and seeing the first signs of the black dye she had put in her hair give way to its natural golden color.

"Yes I could have. But at least this way I am less suspicious to the Black Wings. Are Holocaust and Monsoon ready to begin?" Phoenix asked as she turned around. Brilliance sighed heavily and walked to her, placing both hand on her shoulders.

"Cygnus, you don't have to do this. That is what we are for, to fight _for_ you." Cygnus looked down to the ground, taking a deep breath and looking back into his eyes.

"Mihile, I'm done sitting on the sidelines asking others to fight for me. It's time that I did some of the fighting too. Now come on, Oz and Irena… I mean, Holocaust and Monsoon are waiting for us." She called, walking out of the tent with her sword and shield in hand while Brilliance could only laugh to himself and shake his head. She was stubborn as always, but she would do great as leader of the silent crusade: he could feel it.

* * *

**Updating and Added a Scene**


	7. Chapter 6: Broken Dawn

Chapter 6: Broken Dawn

Evan was feeling rather apprehensive about going to see Cygnus, now that he knew the rumors that had been circulating about her. It had been just over a week when he said he would bring the Ossyrian Seals to Ereve, but the time that had passed wasn't his main concern; it was the fact that at Helen's insistence, they were to be brought to Edelstein instead where Claudine was the one to take them and hide them: not even Checky knew where she kept them. If the rumors about what had happened to the Empress were true, he was walking into a rather dangerous and hair triggered trap.

"Evan, what's the matter?" Mir's soothing voice asked as she walked beside him in her human form.

"I'm just worried is all: what if she doesn't buy the story Helen and Claudine fabricated about me not being able to find them?" Evan said with a melancholy tone. Mir turned the corners of her mouth up and stopped him with a hand, looking intently into his eyes.

"I will do everything in my power to ensure that nothing will happen to you. Our lives are linked remember, and I still have many more years that I would like to live myself." she said firmly, somewhat reassuring Evan as he took a breath and walked on, hand in hand with Mir as they entered the throne room.

"Evan, thank you for coming: I trust that your search for the Ossryian Seals is coming along well?" Cygnus asked with a optimistic luminosity in her eyes. Evan swallowed hard, looking to Mir for a moment and then back to Cygnus.

"Regretfully, the search has been fruitless; the places I thought they would be have been disturbed and the Seals are missing." Cygnus nodded and sighed understandingly, but Mir could feel a hostile presence coming from somewhere around them, making the patch of scales on her torso feel itchy. Upon a closer look, Mir noticed that Cygnus' eyes had a dim red glow within them for a moment.

"I see. Keep Searching Evan, we must keep the seals out of Black Wings hands." She said calmly as they bowed and turned to leave.

"There is something seriously wrong here master, I don't even see Neinthart here anymore." Mir whispered after they left the throne room. Evan looked back and breathed a sigh of relief, rocking his neck side to side to rid his neck and shoulders of thier tension.

"Yes Mir, I know, I just don't know what." He answered before jumping onto Mir's shoulders as they took to the skies, turning towards Edelstein once they were sure no one could see them from Ereve. In the palace, Clytemnestra watched as they took off before quickly getting up and running for her room, only to be overcome with a massive headache. Clutching at her head she struggled to get up, fighting the feeling of another presence trying to take over. Oz and Mihile appeared next to her, picking her up and beginning to make a mad dash for her room when they noticed that her eyes were slowly beginning to take on a maple brown color. Just when her eyes were about to completely change, Mihile and Oz propped her up in the apparatus which wrapped its arms around her, instantly making her eyes return to their dark blue color. No sooner had Clytemnestra been embraced than Arkarium appeared next to Oz.

"Please tell me that you managed to get her into the Apparatus before it was too late." He wheezed, looking to Oz with a stern face.

"Barely; her eyes almost went completely brown this time." Oz replied while Arkarium stepped closer to Clytemnestra, holding his hand out as he looked her over.

"Clytemnestra, you have to make sure and come back to the apparatus more often, otherwise you will lose yourself to whatever this presence is." He wheezed as she slowly began to wake up.

"Don't you think that I already know that Arkarium? This is becoming more of a bother than you realize and I want it fixed now." She snarled from under her eyebrows.

"Master, I have been trying to find a way for that to become possible, but with each discovery I make, it only shows the solution of being in constant contact with the apparatus. Otherwise you will just have to endure coming back to this apparatus for recharge…" Arkarium grew still while his neck felt tight, lifting him from the ground as burns in the shape of fingers began to appear around Arkarium's neck.

"Is there anything that you can tell me that is of ANY use to me?" she growled as Arkarium was brought closer to her in mid air.

"I have… but if you… could set me down… I can…" Clytemnestra tilted her chin out slightly, making Arkarium fall to the floor in a heaving heap.

"Speak quickly, my patience has been worn quite thin." She hissed as Arkarium stood with the help of his cobra familiar.

"Yes… well, while my research on the project you've given me is incomplete, Hilla has found something quite extraordinary, involving Ereve, Ludibrum, and Victoria Island."

* * *

"Can you believe it?" Patricia nervously laughed, flopping down on the old vinyl couch in the High Guard's garage, just as Dumia parked her mech and powered down.

"We finally brought down all of the Black Wings cells: It's almost too good to be true." Abi said in reply, wiping her hands of the heavy grease and slumping down next to Patricia, almost launching her off the couch.

"We can't relax now. There's still some very serious rumors going around about the Empress and her chief knights." Belle called as she walked in with her panther Jack padding in beside her.

"Way to spoil a buzz Belle." Dumia called as she walked over with a few sodas in hand, passing them to everyone before sitting on the arm of the couch. But even after they had all settled in on the couch, there still hung an odd air around all of them: Yes they had just taken down the last Black Wings cell, but things with them were always more dangerous than they really seemed. Checky was about to speak when hard wing flaps could be heard claws shrieked against the concrete as Shinsoo skidded to a stop in the grage. Ashura, Lillianne and Matthew hurriedly dismounted and jogged over to them, making the whole group that had gathered stare in confusion until Claudine broke the odd silence.

"Matthew? What are you doing here? I thought that you would be…"

"Victoria is moving." Matthew interrupted.

"Well, that's not really all that surprising since it is an island not bound by any land mass." Daren answered matter-o-factly.

"That may be true, but from what we were able to ask Athena, Victoria has never moved from its spot in over 600 years, almost as if it were held there by some force." Lillinanne replied as she looked around at the others.

"Ashura and I monitored the island's movements for the day and charted its course." Matthew replied, almost seeming hesitant to tell where it was heading.

"Well, spit it out! Where's it headed?" Patricia demanded, laughing nervously to try and lighten the heavy mood that had fallen over the room.

"It's headed for the Continent." Claudine lifted an eyebrow and smirked.

"What does that matter? From what I understand, Victoria was once a part of the continent. So what's the harm in it coming back together?"

"Because Victoria was not split off from the Continent just to protect the people on it." another dark sounding voice answered, making everyone turn to see Mercedes, Luminous and Phantom standing before them.

"What exactly do you mean?" Dumia asked, getting up from her perch and walking over to them with a confident swagger. Mercedes looked to Luminous who nodded.

"I think the goddess's words would best explain that." Mercedes replied, setting a small stone on the floor before backing away where a holographic image of Minerva appeared.

"If you are listening to this message then it means that Corus, no, The Black Mage has found what I hoped he never would. When we first created Ossyria, there was one thing that had to be re-established when Olde Sapp destroyed itself: the World Maple Tree. All worlds have one; some are hidden far better than others to support the life that will live there since it is a direct line into the Life Stream. As a safety precaution, I built under the ground of Ossyria a worldwide converting circuitry made of Rue to enable myself the use of the Life Stream's power as a weapon, should a foe greater than the combined power of Corus and myself could defeat. This circuitry was then centered on what will become three Islands: The southernmost town of the Victoria Province, the floating Palace Island, Ereve, and the time center of Ossyria, Ludibrum." The picture then shifted to a diagram, showing Ereve above the town in Victoria, and then Ludibrum above Ereve.

"Ereve must first be brought down to the ground of Victoria, and then over Ereve, Ludibrum will then straddle it to become a key. This will open the conduit that feeds directly into the converting circuitry, giving the one who opened that conduit the power of the Life Stream without restraint. Unfortunately, whatever is on the southern part of Victoria will most likely be destroyed if preparations weren't made ahead of time." Vondra and Dumia both threw up their hands, while Claudine held out her hand to the hologram in anger.

"You're coming to us with this information now?! This would have been good to know a few years ago!"

"Just wait, she explains." Phantom said calmly, motioning back to the Hologram which had already continued speaking.

"…made sure to implement a few safety precautions, should this ever be discovered by the Black Mage; First is that Victoria Island must be in contact with the Continent. Second, the only way to move Ereve is though the power of the Feather Dragon, Shinsoo. Third is that Ludibrum will only move once all twelve Pillars of Time have been set in place around the Time Sphere and Ereve is in place. Lastly, the Conduit will only open once the barrier around the Tera Forest has been broken. This barrier can only be broken by setting the Seals of Ossyria on the pillar marking the entrance to the forest. I am giving this information to the Heroes of Ossyria before I split off Victoria from the Continent; should the need arise, I want you five to give this information to anyone who will listen to you, and do whatever it takes to stop The Black Mage." Minerva said before shrinking back into the stone, leaving everyone at a loss for words. Claudine sighed heavily, looking to the Heroes and shaking her head in disbelief of what she had just heard: all of what she had known, her entire world and home village, was actually a massive weapon.

"So now what?" She asked, crossing her arms and looking to those around her for answers when Latimer spoke up.

"From what it sounds like, there are two things that this whole thing pivots on: the Seals of Ossyria, and the Pillars of Time. To my knowledge, the Pillars of Time have been missing ever since The Mage was defeated, and the Seals of Ossyria are here in Edelstein." Latimer held out his hand for a moment until Claudine shook her head.

"That's not entirely true Latimer. Evan is bringing them here, yes, but has only managed to find a few of them. Not too long ago, Evan was called to the Palace to give a report on his progress, saying that he hadn't been able to find them. Since that isn't entirely false, it has given us a bit of a cushion. Matthew, can you estimate how long it'll take Victoria to make contact with the Continent?" Claudine asked as Matthew looked to be writing numbers in the sky.

"It might take a week, possibly less." Lillianne answered before Matthew had a chance to finish with his calculations.

"Alright then, The High Guard is going to be working in round the clock shifts to help Evan search for the remaining Seals; so far we've only managed to gather seven of them, so the help should speed that up. Matthew, you and the other Guardians should probably search for the Pillars of Time since you are the ones most familiar with their energy."

"I wish it were that simple Claudine." Matthew sighed disappointedly

"I'm not sure that even Helen would be able to pick up their energy since the only way to find another Pillar is to find one in the first place." Matthew protested.

"You five are The Guardians of Ossyria, I'm sure you'll be able to think of something." Claudine responded, making Matthew chuckled in agitation as he turned back to Shinsoo.

"I sure hope so." He said under his breath before taking off with Ashura and Lillianne.

"Checky, You and Abi take Alpha and Silver Platoons to Ludibrum, nothing gets to the Time Sphere. You kids, I want you to see if you can find Yoshumari; you find him, you have a key to find the Pillars of Time. Let's move people!" she yelled as everyone jumped from their seats, engines of mecha whining to life throughout the garage. It had been twenty years since the last time a mobilization of this scale had been called for within the High Guard, but even with only two platoons being dispatched, war could be felt on the winds.

* * *

"It has been a two days Arkarium, and while I am able to move Victoria back into place, the plan is moot if I can't move Ereve." Clytemnestra said with an edge in her voice, looking out from the balcony of her room, testing the limits of not being in direct contact with the apparatus. Arkarium smiled darkly, reaching into his sleeve to grab the item that would allow movement of Ereve possible.

"That is not entirely true, Master." he wheezed, making her look over and look uninterestedly at the feather being twirled in Arkarium's hand.

"A single feather? Arkarium, I fear that so much time alive has made you become senile: a single feather is useless to me." Clytemnestra said, readying to raise her hand and destroy the feather.

"Yes the feather itself is useless; but allow me to explain Master." Clytemnestra turned her torrid eyes to him, still ready to sweep her hand to the side and turn the feather into ash. For a brief moment, Arkarium thought that he heard whispers swell from around her, filling the room like an uneasy breeze then fading away just as suddenly.

"Speak." Clytemnestra said shortly.

"With this feather, you will be able to create your own Shinsoo: a copy, bent to your will."

"And how does that benefit me? A copy of him is just that, a copy."

"Not entirely. How do you think the Black Mage created you and the knights, making them look exactly like the originals, and fooling the populous into thinking that you are the Empress?"

"Your point Arkarium; you don't know how I tire of your constant riddles."

"My point being is that with this, you can recreate Shinsoo as your own beast. Ereve needs Shinsoo to move. But it will not know if it is a copy or the original." Clytemnestra sighed hard, nodding to him with an agitated glare. Once He left, she then returned to the apparatus and closed her eyes once in its embrace: so far the limit that she was able to stay away from it was only two days at maximum, and that was not using any bit of her powers. If she did, it would be reduced to only a few hours before she would need to come back to it.

The only drawback to using the apparatus was that if she wanted to be fully rejuvenated quickly, she would need to be asleep, leaving her body _and_ mind vulnerable to whatever it was trying to take over. However that entity only seemed to rear its presence when she was weak and running low on power, so she didn't think that there was any need to worry over something so infantismal: soon there would be no need to hide.

* * *

Phoenix tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot so that the weird dreams she would have would just end and she could sleep in peace. But the dreams would only come every couple of days, and even then they were short but would last in real time, not the strange dream time where one could live out a day in thirty minutes. _She found herself walking through a strange hall, doors lining every inch of the walls, recognizing them as doorways to memories she had cherished or had wished never happened. The strange thing was, when she tried to venture further down the hallway towards the memories of when she was younger, they stopped just before the defeat of the Black Mage and continued to the present._

_"Hello? Is that you again?" a voice called, which Phoenix then recognized as her own voice._

_"Who are you and why do I feel as if I am speaking with myself in the third…"_

_"There isn't much time before he wakes up, but there is a plan that will kill hundreds. You must keep everyone out of a town called Henesys."_

_"Why? What kind of attack is it? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Victoria started moving four days ago?"_

_"I don't have time to explain, just do what you can to keep everyone away from Henesys, and if you can't, try as hard as you can to protect those that go!"_

_"But why would you trust me with this information?! How do I know that you're not just trying to lead me into a trap?!" Phoenix felt the presence surrounding her smile while a smile spread across her own face, the kind of look that one gets when trying to explain something to a child._

_"Because I want the same thing you want."_

_"And that would be?" Phoenix asked, suddenly feeling like she were being pulled back away from this presence._

_"The safety of everyone in Ossyria."_ Phoenix woke with a start, sitting up with a shout and tossing the covers away, waking Brilliance who was startled when his arm was pulled from around her waist.

"Honey? What's wrong?" he asked, just as Holocaust and Shadow swept aside the tent's front flap leading to the main campfire.

"Black Phoenix, what's wrong?" Shadow asked calmly, pulling his hands under his cloak.

"I just had another one of those strange dreams. This time it said that there was going to be an attack in Henesys, and to keep everyone away from it or to protect those that went anyway." Phoenix mumbled in her half awakened state, now that the adrenalin had worn off.

"Did you happen to ask if this was because of Victoria's movements?" Holocaust asked, coming into the tent and setting her staff down while the torch light that sat atop it lit the dark space with a comforting glow.

"No, the presence said that it didn't have the time."

"Are you sure that it didn't mean you any harm? It could be a trap." Phoenix was about to answer, tilting her head a bit as though thinking of an answer to give.

"It's hard to explain, but the presence, almost feels as if, it's another me. But that is beside the point: where are Monsoon and Firebolt?" Phoenix asked. Holocaust only shook her head.

"I'm not sure; Firebolt disappeared into the woods about an hour ago and Monsoon went after him." Phoenix huffed: this had been happening a lot lately, but lives were in danger and the Silent Crusade had to do what they could to keep lives from being lost and there were only a few days left to make provisions.

"Fine, there's no time to look for him. Wake the others, we need to get started right now."

"But Phoenix, it's the middle of the night and the soldiers are tired, they need their rest as do you."

"Holocaust I appreciate your concern, but if we don't start now it'll be Edelstein all over again. I don't intend to make the same mistake twice." Phoenix commanded, throwing the covers off and reaching for her armor. Holocaust only shook her head, knowing that starting like this was going to be taxing on all of them. Yes the Chief Knights had a higher resilience and more stamina than the other soldiers, but even they had their limits. When Holocaust came outside, she noticed that Shadow was standing by the middle bonfire, almost seeming to be entranced by it, deep in thought.

"You miss her don't you Eckhart?" Holocaust asked, walking up beside him and casting a spell that perked up the flames.

"Yes I do. I just hope that whoever it was that replaced me didn't say or do anything to hurt her." Shadow answered, staring into the flames for a while longer, turning the ring on his finger before turning to wake the others.

"It's been almost 12 years since the two of you got married, do you have any plans to have kids?" Holocaust asked as she followed after him making Shadow stop and sigh heavily.

"I've thought about it and spoken to Athena. Unfortunately, despite her Elvin heritage, she's told me that she has moved past her prime, beyond that of child bearing. She will retain her youthful appearance for a while longer, but biologically she's become too old." Again, Eckhart could be heard sighing, but Holocaust could see a small smile turn up on the corners of his mouth.

"I supposed that would make sense, seeing as she is over 600 years old. I'm surprised that she was even able to have Jenny since she already had lived quite a few years." Holocaust pointed out as she packed a few knapsacks with potions and supplies for the soldiers.

"I asked her about that as well, but the only response I received was a smile and a kiss. I guess I'll never know." Eckhart smiled, looked down to his ring once more, then walking beyond the light of the fire and waking soldiers that he felt were more rested than the others.

Deep within the woods, Monsoon had been following who she assumed to be Firebolt when he had left the camp, but everything that she had been hearing and seeing pointed to the contrary; the footprints, the broken branches, even the strange growls she had been hearing. Was she following Firebolt, or was she following some sort of creature? Sometimes she would be able to see the silhouette of something in the moonlight, but it was misshapen and somewhat grotesque: it almost appeared to be a huge humanized shark. Many times over she would fearfully hide when it looked to her, waiting and trying to keep her breathing silent as it would walk over to where she was, before being distracted by something else.

"_This is stupid Irena! You're a chief knight for crying out loud and your hiding in fear like a little girl!_" she mentally scolded herself. Gathering what she had left of her bravery or insanity, she stepped out from behind the current hiding spot as the creature walked away, drawing an arrow while winds began to gather around her bow. But as she took aim, the creature stopped walking, turning to look at her over its shoulder with its narrow, glowing aqua eyes. She pulled the sinews tighter, but remained still; partially in fear, partially because that she somehow knew that while her arrow might do some damage it would more than likely just make it really mad.

Her fears intensified when the creature began walking back to her baring its sharp teeth, flexing its fingers and tensing the muscles in its arms and presumed neck until it stood over her. Edgy seconds passed as the two of them just stared at each other, the creature seeming to wait for a moment to strike while threads of bright green electricity felt over its arms. Monsoon stood ready to let the arrow shoot as the winds surrounding her began to glow in a light blue glow. Monsoon's finger twitched on the bow making the creature pull its arm back to strike as the electricity intensified, making her skin itch as she aimed up slightly to its heart. But something made her stop, watching in surprise as the creature's eyes began to dim and the lightning around his arms diffused.

"I-ire-nnna?" the creature asked, relaxing its stance and standing back, shaking it head and holding up its hands to its eyes.

"Irena? Is that you?" it asked again, turning its head to see her better when Monsoon recognized the voice speaking to her.

"Hawkeye?" Monsoon asked, lowering her bow and putting the arrow back in her quiver.

"Hawkeye, what happened to…"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! I'm not sure that I can control what I'm going to do." Firebolt growled, stepping back away from her when his foot snagged on something and brought him to the ground on his stomach. Before he had a chance to try and get up, Monsoon was already kneeling next to him, placing a gentle hand on the side of his head. But the touch to him was cold and unwelcome, making him snap at her, opening his jaw wide enough to bite her in half while sparking something in his mind _of him feeling cold, out of breath and petrified, clamping down hard on the arm of the person that had set their hand on the side of his head. _

_He tried to shake as he was used to, but something hit him hard in his side, feeling like he had been punched in the heart making him let go in the moment of pain. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that another person was bringing down a cylinder with a sharp metal needle towards his fin when a loud hissing whisper flowed through the room. He turned his eyes this way and that, trying to find where that whisper had come from when he was suddenly staring into the eyes of a man with redish-violet eyes, making him feel even colder and more frightened than before. He was one of the most powerful hunters of the sea, and yet a mere human was making him feel fear? He tried again to thrash around, but his tail and body had been strapped down. Again whispers filled the air as the man he had seen walked out of his line of sight and placed a clammy hand on his skin, when another cloaked human asked:_

_"What is it that you want us to find out master?" Whispers hanging in the air for a moment as the men in cloaks nodded, grabbing something metal and beginning to cut into his skin on his side, making him thrash in pain. He tried over and over again to break free, but the pain only continued until he was again staring into the first man's eyes once more while his voice seemed to speak to him in his head._

_"Struggling will only cause you more pain. I don't entertain the notion of loosing something I've invested so much time in capturing, Sunil_." Firebolt managed to stop himself before he clamped his jaw around Monsoon's waist, carefully pulling himself away from her and forcing himself to calm down. He then felt his form begin to shrink down into the person that he knew himself to be before all strength left him and slumped down into Monsoon's arms.

"Firebolt, I know what you were like before you came to the knights, but this is much worse than that. Ever since that battle where the Guardians faced Balrog you have these moments when you revert to your old self. Lately though it's gotten much worse: now you're turning into this shark creature. What happened to you that you aren't telling?" Firebolt sighed, shaking his head while Monsoon helped him sit propped up against a tree.

"I'm… I'm not sure. I keep having visions…. But they, I don't know. They feel like more than that." Firebolt said, holding his hand up and turning it this way and that in the moonlight; what was it that was plaguing his thoughts? Were they actual memories? Or just strange wakened dreams?

* * *

"How much further to the seal, Evan?" Vondra called.

"Not much, it should be just around this corner." He called back over the wind rushing past his ears as he sat atop Mir.

"What are you complaining about? You've been sitting for the past hour!" Dumia called through her external com speakers. Vondra looked down at her sister inside the cockpit and laughed.

"Well the ride hasn't exactly been the smoothest." Vondra retorted, when Patrica began to look as if she were acting strange.

"Dumia, is your radar picking anything up?" she asked, when Latimer who rode on his panther beside them grabbed the large crossbow from his back, springing the tension arms out and readying for an attack. Dumia looked down at her HUD for any red dots to indicate enemies, but even when she extended the range, she still could see anything.

"I'm not getting anything on radar, are you sensing something?" She asked Patricia, holding out her left arm and readying the chain-gun that rose from the forearm.

"I'm not sure; it feels almost like a…" her sentence was cut off when a black sheet of power crashed into the ground, tossing dirt and dust into the air in a huge wave, covering Patrica and Vondra in damp soil. Latimer managed to dodge it, but he was thrown from his panther when an enormous ball of flames exploded upon hitting the ground next to him. Latimer managed to correct in time to land on his feet, but the force of his momentum caused him to fall on his back, opening his eyes just in time to see something come streaking down at him.

His body tensed in preparation for impact when a wind rushed over him, making small clods of dirt hit him in the face. Evan watched as the black thing spread its massive wings just before hitting Latimer, rocketing up at him and Mir just as fast making her have to roll out of the way so that she wouldn't be hit. Above them, black winged being slammed into another black streak making showers of black sparks rain down on them all. Evan was about to try and get closer when the two black streaks disappeared in opposite directions, only to slam into each other again and again, making even more sparks explode in the sky.

Gun shots could be heard from the ground below making Dumia look down at her HUD for a moment seeing two red dots 20 yards ahead and slightly to the right. Looking up, she saw a strawberry blond jumping from perch to perch in the trees, firing of rounds from guns that looked too big for her to handle as well as she did. Her opponent on the other hand made Dumia look more carefully: it almost looked like it was Eckhart, but something was off about him. His skin was pale and his hair was almost pure white.

"DUMIA! What are you just standing there for? We've walked into a war zone here!" Vonrda called. Dumia shook her head, looking around a bit to try and get a handle on their situation before doing anything when Evan and Mir landed hard.

"Vondra! You and Patricia take the ones on the ground. Dumia will help me out with the one in the sky. Latimer, I want you to try and locate the Seal. Take this ring, it'll help you find it. Let's go go go!" Evan ordered, bracing himself as Mir shot into the sky once more. Vondra drew both of her knives, holding her blades up with her arms crossed while a symbol appeared before her as though she had slashed the air before it slithered to her feet, the same symbol appearing on the guards of her daggers. With a nod to Patricia, the two of them streaked into battle being sure to watch out for the blond girl's bullets so they wouldn't get hit themselves. Patricia's wand fizzled with mana as she rushed in then stopped, swinging as hard as she could holding her wand forward as a chain of dark violet lightning swung a ball out to make a barrier that the man tried to avoid by sliding under it on his knees.

However the electricity intensified reaching out to the man and shocking him hard leaving him stunned for a moment allowing Patricia to swing her wand again, throwing out a seal attached to her wand by chains and pull the man to her. The blond watched for a moment in confusion as Patricia then struck the man hard, each swing of her Battle Wand followed by a streak of dark or black power. With another swing of her wand, she sent the man streaking across the area to where Vondra sprung from her hiding spot, swinging her blades forward making chain scythes shoot from the ground and hurl the man into the air. In a flash, Vondra had jumped up to the peak of his ascent where she looked as if she split into two people and disappeared.

The man twitched this way and that while flaming slashes of light appeared on his body, the only indications that he was being attack besides his bleeding wounds. When Vondra finally reappeared, she held the pummels of her daggers downwards while tongues of fire began appearing around her, taking on the form of ninja. The man panicked and was about to react when Vondra drove the pummels of her daggers down hard into the man's chest while the ninja all attacked at once, sending him streaking to the ground in a fire ball as a result of the explosion. Patricia teleported to where the man was falling, as a seal in the shape of a skull hung behind her.

Just before the man hit the ground Patricia swung up, catching the man in the middle of his back before hitting him into the air slightly, then swinging down as hard as she could to the ground. As she swung down, a giant hazy image of a reaper appeared swinging its scythe around as though it were a simple staff before swinging its blade down hard, driving the point through the man's chest and into the ground. Vondra landed silently beside her as Patricia brushed her hair back and smiled when their attention was drawn to the battle still going on behind them.

"They still aren't done?" Vondra asked, walking down into the crater and pulling a rope from her knap sack to tie around the hands of their defeated enemy. Yes, using the Reaper's Song had been a bit extreme on Patricia's part, but she had restrained herself and the wound was only topical at worst, despite what appeared to have happened.

"Well, whoever their third dance partner is, I'm sure that they have to watch out for him since they were already moving pretty fast, maybe even faster than you." Patricia laughed making Vondra shake her head.

Evan cast his fire spell before Mir, trying to time the initiation just right so that when the two of them came back together, the resulting fireball would hit at least one of them since he couldn't tell who was the good guy, if there was one. Dumia could only stand by and watch, holding her arms up aiming different directions but not being able to do anything since even her advanced tracking system couldn't keep up with the invisibly fast people above her. Without warning the attacks seemed to just stop altogether when the proximity warnings on the sides of her HUD began to flash red.

Dumia had just enough time to jump up with the help of her boosters when the two black streaks hit each other so hard it pushed Dumia away with the resulting shockwave. She managed to reach out her hands and somersault back onto her feet to see Yoshumari and a Black Wings Soldier holding each other at bay; Yoshumari's Nalcana energy sword hissed and sparked against the Black Magic sword of the Soldier. Dumia was about to take aim when the bottom of her HUD pulsed red indicating danger behind her. She whirled around and took aim at the first thing she saw, spinning up the chain gun seeing the Strawberry blond from before. She instantly held up her hands when Patricia teleported between them.

"Dumia wait! She's a friend! She's with Yoshumari!" she yelled as Dumia spun down the gun and tunred back around to watch the fight still brewing behind them.

Evan took the chance that he was given, patting Mir's neck as she tucked in her wings and plummeted from the sky, aimed for the assailant fighting off Yoshumari. But just when Mir was extending her claws to pulverize the soldier, the two of them disappeared again letting her crash in the ground alone. The two fighters exchanged blows that were only visible because of the flashes of light erupting around them until they finally slammed together again. This time Dumia ignored any warnings that her Mech told her, taking aim at the Solider with her guns and making a hail of gunfire fill the air. The soldier looked to the side and smiled when he saw the bullets and began to pull back, when Yoshumari disappeared entirely, causing the Soldier to fall forwards instead.

The fall made him avoid the bullets, but he wasn't able to recover fast enough to avoid being pinned to the ground by Mir. The soldier was about to try an attack spell, but when he looked up, he was staring down the blurred barrels of Dumia's chain gun, while the rest of the people that had reduced him and his partner to nothing stood around him.

"Go ahead, give me a reason to pull this trigger." Dumia growled, her finger twitching within the control glove, itching to get it over with.

"Tell me something. If you 'High Guard' were the ones to take out the last cell of the Black Wings, then tell me why there are still Black wings Soldiers running around Ossryia like they own the place?" Yoshumari asked with a sharp edge in his voice while folding his wings behind him.

"You do know that you're still wanted by the Empress for your crimes against Ossyria don't you?" Evan asked, trying to make the edge in his voice match that of Yoshumari's, only to be humbled slightly when he turned to lock gazes with him.

"The Empress? As I'm sure you are no doubt aware that her Identity is seriously being called into question right now. This man on the other hand, has no such uncertainty, do you?" Yoshumari asked, making the energy around his hand form into a sword once again and stabbed it through the man's hand.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!" Dumia squealed.

"AAHH! YES! YES I WORK FOR THE BLACK WINGS!" the man screamed out in pain as Yoshumari drove it deeper into his hand, kneeling down to face him.

"Then tell everyone here what you have in mind." The man looked him in the eyes gritting his teeth against the pain before gathering his saliva and spitting it into Yoshumari's face. Yoshumari closed his eyes and took a long breath before defusing his power and wiping the spittle away with the back of his sleeve.

"Very well then, if that's the way to want it, so be it!" He growled, holding his hand high in the air while a giant axe formed around his hand.

"STOP!" the blond yelled, just as Yoshumari was about to take a swing, making him look back at her with wild and angry eyes.

"We can use him for interrogation. We are not savages in the Silent Crusade! I don't think even Black Phoenix would authorize this kind of force, not on enemies that we can use." The blond shouted.

"Starling, there is no getting information out of them, you know that as well as I do! And if they are allowed to run around freely, they will only bring more chaos to this world then they already have which is why they must be stopped here and now!" Yoshumari screamed, raising his axe once more ready to strike when Starling ran between the man and him.

"Star, move!"

"No!"

"MOVE!"

"I said no!"

"I am your commanding officer and I order you to move!"

"Then that is an order that I cannot obey! Our orders were not to be a mobile execution unit!" Yoshumari reached out his hand, clamping down hard on her shoulder and neck when a voice broke the silence.

"Hey guys, I think we have a problem: I found the Seal, but I found this there as well." Latimer said, holding up a small sack, from which he pulled a small red-orange gem. Yoshumari's eyes went wide when he saw the gem, looking back to the man that was supposed to be under Mir's foot and not seeing him there. When he looked back, the man was drawing a dagger, lunging at Latimer from behind.

"YOU FOOL!" Yoshumari roared, opening his wings and disappearing in a streak of light, pinning the man to a tree with a sword through the heart.

"Heh, looks like he still got me anyway. TECON NOW!" the soldier screamed, when the man that Vondra had tied up sprang from the crater, ran as fast as he could at Latimer and grabbed the bag with his teeth, sprinting away into the forest as fast as he could while dark power began surrounding him.

"No you don't!" Vondra shouted, swinging her arms up as lines of mana streaked across the ground towards him while Yoshumari swung hard, sending an arch or power screaming through the air at the man's neck, but just as both attacks were about to hit their targets, the man disappeared in a plume of black aura.

"Please tell me that you didn't put all the gems like that into that bag." Yoshumari hissed, pulling his left hand from the man's chest who sank to the ground in a lifeless pile.

"Yes, I did, was I not supposed to?" Evan hung his head in disappointment and defeat while Yoshumari's body tensed, every vein in his body bulging with blood.

"Those were the Pillars of Time! You just handed them THE PILLARS OF TIME!" he roared, rushing to Latimer and grabbing him by the shirt collar, shaking him back and forth violently. Latimer's panther Blaze jumped onto Yoshumari's right arm, clamping down as hard as he could with his jaw trying to pull his grip off Latimer's shirt while Mir reverted to her human form and began pulled him away on the left.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE!" Yoshumari shrieked, as Mir struggled to keep him within her grip until he finally shoved her off, and charged for Latimer once again, this time with his sword fully empowered and stabbing forward as hard as he could. But his charge was brought to an abrupt halt, making dust a dirt fly everywhere. When it settled, it revealed Yoshumari's sword a hair's breadth away from Starling's neck. For a few moments, neither of them did anything until Yoshumari defused his sword and bolted into the sky, allowing Starling to let out the breath she had been holding.

"Please forgive him; when he went to help you in the fight against the Black Mage, I managed to slip into the castle before you, staying out of sight and trying to stay as quiet as I could since the only weapon I know are these." She said, producing one of her custom twin pistols.

"While the Mage was busy with taking The Guardian's crystal power, I snuck into the room and took all of the Pillars as well as Yoshumari himself. Ever since then we've been laying low and helping where we could. When he found out that I had the Pillars of Time with me, he insisted that we hide them but only in a place that he would know. After we heard that Victoria was moving, Yoshumari decided that it was time to retrieve the Pillars since the Black Wings would no doubt be looking for them as well as the Seals. When I asked him why, he told me that he had found one of the Seals and had hidden the Pillars there, since the Seals themselves give off a self hiding aura from anyone that doesn't have a means of detecting it. We were in the process of retrieving them when we were ambushed by those soldiers. I just thought that you should know." Starling said before turning and running in the same direction that Yoshumari had flown off in. Latimer hung his head, opening his hand to reveal the one Pillar that he had pulled out and had managed to save.

"Now what happens?" Latimer asked mournfully.

"Now, we just fight harder. Come on; let's get back to base with the Seal." Evan answered as the procession sluggishly pulled into motion.

* * *

"At last he's finished!" Clytemnestra cheered to herself as the large incubation tank drained away of its gel and the sides of the tank sank into the ground.

"I must warn that because his growth from conception to now has been exponentially accelerated, his life span has been significantly shorted." Clytemnestra looked over to Arkarium with seething light in her eyes before holding out her hand, lifting Arkarium off the ground, tossing him to the side.

"I don't care whether or not he will live for long. I just need him long enough to move Ereve into position. Once that is complete, I could care less what happens to him." she sneered, waving her hand and drying Shinsoo's feathers instantly. The motion woke him, revealing luring deep blue eyes while his feather's radiated with a dull violet power, lighting the ground around him dimly.

"Shinsoo, listen to me; I need to move this Island to meet Victoria in just under a day and I need your help to…" Before she had a chance to finish, Shinsoo was already getting up and walking around the room, looking around as though gaining his bearings before walking out. Curious, Clytemnestra followed him, soon realizing that Shinsoo was headed for the palace where the true Shinsoo would often sit with Cygnus.

"_Of course, why didn't I think of that before?_" Clytemnestra thought, laughing to herself as Shinsoo made himself comfortable, followed by Clytemnestra. No sooner had she made herself comfortable in his feathers than the ground trembled, making her smile: at least one thing was going according to plan. But as she was readying to drift off to sleep, a huge cloud of black smoke appeared, spewing a man from it with a small bag in his teeth as he sprawled to the ground. Clytemnestra teleported over to him, crouching down to see who it was that had come and recognized him as the spirit that had been trapped within Eckhart for so many years, now with a body of his own.

"Well well, what have you brought to me?" she asked alluringly, reaching for the ropes around his wrists and burning them away. He quickly shrugged them off and reached for the pouch in his mouth, handing it to her.

"There is one missing, but I believe these are something that you will need." He said as Clytemnestra smiled, reaching into the pouch and pulling out one of the red-orange gems.

"You've done well Tecon. Now another piece of the puzzle is in our favor."

* * *

Nervously Claudine looked around at the huge crowd of people gathered in the center of Henesys including The High Guard and the Heroes at the summons of the Empress. With each attempt they tried to make the people leave, even evacuate, they would only be met with people laughing at them or saying that they were there under the invitation of the Empress. Dureau smoothly walked through the crowds, watching everyone with his keen eyes, trying to find the one spark that would show what this meeting was about: he had heard the rumors, but couldn't spot anything that would give it away.

"This isn't working! We need something far more drastic to…" Claudine hissed on her com system when a shadow passed over her, making her turn to see Ereve in the distance. She turned to the south to see where the Island was in proximity to the continent when the entirety of the ground shuddered and jerked, making everyone lose their balance.

"_This isn't good… there is only an hour or so before Ereve is going to drop into the center of this town and crush everyone here!_ Alpha Leader Actual, come in!" Claudine hissed through her com, giving quick orders to Belle and Daren to begin ushering people put of Henesys.

"_Alpha leader, what's your status Overlord, over?_"

"Alpha leader we have a red level alert in progress. Ereve is just out of missile range and we haven't been able to get anyone to budge, not to mention that the Guardians and their kids are still looking for the Seals. I need you and your squad to get here ASAP, or else there won't be anyone to save. Leave Silver Squad in charge of guarding the Time Sphere. Over."

"_Roger that Overlord. But even at top speed, our mechs won't be able to get there for another 20 minutes, over._"

"Do what you can. I've brought enough transport ships to carry at least 30 kilo heads, but from where I'm standing there are at least 100 kilo, over." Claudine was taken by surprise when she was tapped on the shoulder, reaching for her pistol and turning around as quickly as she could to see a woman with jet black hair standing before her having a very familiar face.

"Empress Cygnus?" Claudine whispered, when the woman put a finger to her lips.

"Keep it down; right now I'm going by the name Black Phoenix and am leader of the Silent Crusade. I've come to help. Brilli… I mean Mihile and the other knights found the ship that Athena brought the survivors from Leafre in to Victoria. It's not in the best of shape but it should be able to hold at least five thousand people. Yoshumari has made contact with the Guardians to convince Shanks and the Tickets to bring their ships as well. All in all I have ships that will be able to carry just under seven thousand people out of here." Claudine sighed in relief: they would still need more ships, but at least this way they had a way for getting more people away from Victoria in one pass.

"Thank you!"

"So where are we meeting up? I imagine Victoria is no longer going to be safe after this." Phoenix surmised, looking around at the people.

"I had originally thought of getting everyone back to Mu Lung as we had before, but if whoever this is knows about 18 years ago, they'd know that's where we'll be and decided to rally in Edelstein."

"Good call." Phoenix replied when a flapping sound could be heard as Shinsoo glided down to a stage set up before them, allowing the Knights and the Empress herself to climb down from his neck.

"I thought Shinsoo was in a contract with your daughter?!" Claudine hissed to Phoenix.

"He is: Change of plans, we move now. No time for waiting." Phoenix commanded as she and her knights began weaving through the crowd, while the empress began to speak.

"Dear citizens of Ossyria, thank you all for coming to Henesys for this wondrous occasion. As you can see in the distance, Ereve is making its way over Victoria as we speak, and it is you who will be able to make it possible. You may have heard the rumor about the goddess and I am saddened to say that, yes, the goddess is dead." Gasps washed over the crowd while the High Guard and the Crusade agents pushed their way through the crowds.

"But fear not; with the help of my knights I have found a source of power left behind by her that will enable us to defeat any foe." A hush fell over the crowd as The Empress smirked, beginning to rise into the air catching the dumb gazes of the people while her skin paled and her hair became platinum blond. As she floated higher, a large glowing apparatus appeared behind her wrapping part of its metal frame around her waist, a feeling of power washing over the people.

"With this power, a new world shall be created where there is no more hate, no more hunger, no more tears. You, here today, should feel honored, because you will be the first of this new world. You will lay the ground work for your fellow Ossyrians…" the woman looked around with a suddenly evil smirk, making Claudine and Phoenix begin pushing people away from the stage telling them to run.

"You will be the first… To die!" More and more people began running away from the stage in fear, some even sprinting as fast as they could until they saw four newly graduated Rank 200 Ninja standing with poised arrogance. Phantom ran to them, swatting one of them in the knees and turning him around.

"Go! Run, there's nothing you can do here." He said when another of the ninja pushed Phantom to the ground.

"Hey, back off chuckles. You're dealing with the founding members of the elite guild known as the Night Terrors. It's taken us years and millions of coin, but we've managed to gather enough enhancing scrolls so that our abilities have been augmented to such a high degree, nothing can touch us!" the middle one said, crossing his arms and looking back to the woman on the stage.

"Is that so? Well then, perhaps I should tell you my name before we begin battle." She answered in a rather playful tone.

"No need, you'll be dead before you have chance to scream." The young man said, drawing his dagger and taking a lowered stance. Mercedes and Luminous had also been watching and began to think that maybe these new 'adventurers', as most people called them, were really better than they let on. In a flash, the young man had jumped to the stage, planting a foot firmly in her gut then back flipping off, kicking her in the chin. Before she had a chance to recover, a large seal appeared behind him with red orbs that quickly spun and shrank as the orbs turned blue while wind curled around his dagger.

In a flash he ran past her, cutting her across the chest, then back flipped over her throwing his dagger into her forehead. He then pushed off a seal which launched him forward, grabbed the dagger and moved in a whirl of slashes before jumping back, while the cuts that had been inflicted opened simultaneously, showering the stage with blood. The young ninja reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small towelette to wipe the blood from his blade as he walked back to his adoring 'brothers'. From the sight that had played out before them, the people began to return to get a better look at the now limp hanging body of the woman within the apparatus.

"That was far too easy." Luminous growled.

"What are you talking about? Those are the best of the best right there. I bet that not even the mighty Olsen would be able to stand up to them." a passerby said who quickly trotted over to the growing crowd to thank the young ninja when a low female chuckle began to rise from the stage. Slowly everyone turned to watch as the apparatus glowed brighter before the wounds on the woman's body all began healing, the final wound to heal being the one inflicted to her head.

"I knew it; anything created by the Black Mage wouldn't die so easily." Luminous growled, taking off his outer robe and preparing for battle when he saw the young ninja turn around and face her with a cocky chuckle.

"You just don't know when to give up do…" the young ninja never finished as metal arms from the apparatus shot out and pinned him down to the ground through his extremities.

"Is that really the best you can muster?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Hilla, summon your army to contain these weaklings, I think it's time that you see what kind of power you are up against." She smiled drawing her hand to the side, making the man that was under the apparatus become nothing more than a wave of ashes. Hilla then stepped from the shadow that was next to the stage, firmly planting her staff on the ground which heaved and buckled as skeletons rose from below the ground all around the crowd of people, cutting them off from the ships that were just outside the village.

"It appears as though I'm the one that killed _him _before he had a chance to scream." She chuckled as the others of his guild stared in shock while she pulled the arms of the apparatus back. With a nod to Hilla, the skeletons began advancing on the people, swatting at them with their claw like hands while the unfortunate lower rank adventurers were put on the front lines.

"You… you killed our leader! YOU BASTARD!" another of the ninja yelled, fueling the rage in the other two as they reached for the blades and lunged for her. The woman simply smiled, drawing her hand across to turn the other three in the ash as well, when she heard the spell ricochet, turning a nearby tree into ash instead. She looked up to see what had happened, and was somewhat surprised to see Luminous kneeling on the ground between her and the three ninja.

"Oh man, I thought I was a goner!" one of the ninja said. Luminous looked back to them, his right eye glowing fiercely.

"Then go before you are." He growled, instantly making them scramble to their feet and run as fast as they could towards the others. Mercedes and Phantom soon joined him as he stood once again to his feet.

"Luminous, Mercedes, and the elusive Phantom; my my this _does_ bring back fond memories." The three of them looked at each other, wondering what she could possibly mean since this was the first time they had even seen her, and yet she remembers them?

"But alas, all of your power seems to have drained away. I on the other hand have been tapping into the power of my master the Black Mage, and I am a mere extension of his will. Soon all of Ossyria will be nothing more than a burning pile of ash: the perfect slate to start over with, as he would have wanted." Phantom lost his cool, gritting his teeth while reaching for a card.

"One of your Officers killed Empress Aria. Tell me where I can find her!" he demanded, but the woman just laughed.

"No Phantom, it wasn't one of my officers who killed her, it was you. What about that pendant you gave her as a small gift to try and woo her emotions into giving you the Skaia? The one that she wore in her hair? Wasn't it said to be cursed by a woman who's love had been scorned and that anyone who wore it would be victim to her wrath?" She baited, making Phantom fight himself with all he had to keep his head about him. Mercedes drew her guns, readying to fire when the woman locked eyes with her.

"Ah yes, the Queen of the Elves: how did that unicorn of yours fair in the end?" Tears stung the corners of Mercedes eyes, still able to hear the shrill whinnies of Onora while the last bits of light in her eyes faded away with her life, making Mercedes drop to her knees. Luminous grabbed his staff from its standing position, whirling it around like a bo staff.

"Ah and Luminous, the precious…" But she was cut off when he thrust the end of his staff forward, making her have to call up a barrier spell to deflect the incoming spear of light. Before she could speak again, rings descended around him and then another powerful spear came shooting at her, which she easily deflected.

"You may be seeking your vengeance on me for something that happened to you long ago young mage. But don't you think that you should be more worried about the people trying to escape? Even with your Silent Crusade and your High Guard, and even that traitorous demon with you, it seems that you still can't overcome Hilla's army. So what will it be? Let them die and face me? Or fight with them and die anyway?" she asked with a smile. Mercedes and Phantom looked back at the struggling people behind them, trying to fight their way through the skeletons but having no success what so ever.

"It doesn't matter anyway. For it is now time, for the great descending. I am Clytemnestra! Remember it! For it shall be the last name on your lips!" she called, holding her hands wide to the missive boil of earth above them, before she and Hilla disappeared. The Heroes turned and began fighting as hard as they could, trying to punch holes through the line of skeletons with even less success than the younger adventurers while the higher ranked ones would only make sure that they made it through and no one else. The High Guard and Crusade were managing to get small pockets of them through, but with the Island of Ereve now descending on them, it wasn't enough! They needed to get through to the ships now!

"OUT OF THE WAY!" a voice shouted as the crowd parted and something hit the ground hard while a shock wave ripped through the line of Skeletons, followed by a blast of ice to form a small corridor allowing them all to charge towards the ships. No sooner had that opened up than the skeletons began trying to break it down and close the hole in their line when Jack and Olsen both dropped from the sky and began tearing through the lines of Skeletons as Shank's and the Ticket's ships descended. With each punch, Jack would smash through a skull, elbow another that tried to attack from behind then grab his pistol and shoot one of them through the head as well as the one behind it.

Olsen threw spreads of shuriken, each one slicing through the spines of the skeletons making then disappear in a cloud of dark vapors before grabbing the huge half moon-like blade on his belt, cutting through skeletons left and right as though he were an invisible streak. A shrill scream came from the crowd further up, catching Matthew's attention as he sheathed his Pyrope Rohen and drew the Glory Sword in its place, rushing to the aid of the woman who had screamed, slicing through the arms of the skeleton that had grabbed her before turning back to the wall of soldiers behind him, stepping forward as he yelled at the top of his lungs while the Dragon's Roar appeared behind him, howling out its own roar and pushing them back.

Jenny and Aran were that last to descend, winds curling around them lovingly as they glided to the ground and began firing off powerful arrows or unleashing heavy waves of ice through the hundreds of Skeletons, keeping them away from the people. Jenny reached for and arrow, taking aim and obliterating the skeleton that stood before her and was about to turn to face another, when a breeze began to build behind her. Turning around, she could see the grasses swaying towards herwhile in other areas the grass was bent towards another direction. Closing her eyes she listened, the hem of her Gaia cloak beginning to glow with a comforting blue light.

"_Danger…"_ the winds whispered, making Jenny look up to see that Ereve was falling even faster than she previously thought.

"LETS GO! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" She shouted over the howling winds.

"THERE ARE STILL HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HERE! Claudine shouted in protest. Jenny closed her eyes and again and listened to the winds once more, but they remained silent.

"COME ON, THERE'S NO TIME! DO WHAT YOU CAN!" Jenny screamed, grabbing Claudine by the arm and pulling her along as they made their way to the ships. Shanks did what he could to keep the _Queen's Wing_ stable until he had filled the ship to capacity, the last to board being Olsen.

"GO GO GO!" He shouted as Shanks spun the wheel, turning the ship away from their position and pushing the throttle into overdrive, hurtling the ship away from under the falling island followed by many others. Clouds of dust and screams of people who were still too close to the impact point could be heard in a shrill howl; Jack looked back and hung his head watching through the side window of the helm room as the _Nautilus_ pulled away as well with is cargo hold full of people. On the _Queen's wing, _Shanks circled high above Victoria, allowing those on deck to look below as the shockwave of Ereve's impact on Victoria leveled the entire town and hundreds of trees around it.

"My god…" Jenny breathed when a pulse of something dark in color spread from around Ereve like a ripple. Black Phoenix stumbled, quickly caught by Brilliance as he too stood near the railing and watched the massive dust cloud spread out from beneath Ereve.

"I thought that this time I could make some kind of difference… I thought that this time I could make sure that no one was lost." Phoenix said with a quiver in her voice. Claudine looked up slightly at her, lifting her hand to set on her shoulder when she hesitated: This woman was the reason that her brother was killed so many years ago because she couldn't help Edelstein. Why _should_ she comfort her? On some level or another she actually was getting a kind of sick pleasure out of watching the Empress crumble the way she was. But when she thought about her brother, it was almost as she could hear him speaking to her.

"_Claud, what the heck? Yeah, you lost me, but she has an entire world to help, give her a break."_ Claudine swallowed hard, knowing that what she thought her brother would say was right and made herself reach up and place a hand on Phoenix's shoulder.

"This isn't the end." A stern voice said, all of them turning to see Dureau partially sitting on a crate with his legs crossed.

"What do you mean? So many lives were lost just now, and you say that it isn't over? Victoria is once again connected to the continent, Ereve has been embedded in the ground of what was once Henesys, and they have the Pillars of Time. How can this _not_ be the end?" Phoenix demanded as she walked one step at a time towards him.

"Because if this woman Clytemnestra is a creation of the Black Mage, then there are already a set of stages put into motion. Bringing all of this together was only the first of phases. If I remember right, she also needs the Seals of Ossyria as well as the remaining Pillar of Time that was held onto by Latimer. We still have a bit of an upper hand on this situation."

"But it will only be a matter of time until Clytemnestra figures out where the Pillar is being held and come after it, as well as the Seals: how do we still have the upper hand?" Holocaust asked when Dureau looked up at her from under his brow, his red eyes glowing in slight anger.

"Because we still have the Heroes of Ossyria, or did you forget?"

"Speaking of which, have any of you seen them?" Jack asked when he realized that they weren't on the ship.

"No I haven't. Wait, where's Patricia?" Jenny asked, looking around on the ship, and then looking to the other ships for her. Olsen grabbed his cloak and held it up as it transformed into a great fiery phoenix perched on his arm awaiting a command.

"Point us in the direction of the Heroes." He said, as the bird flew off of his arm, landing on the railing and looking down and Victoria.

"How did they… phoenix, point us to Latimer." Again the phoenix just stared at Victoria. Olsen named off the others that had come with them after they heard the distress call from Claudine to Checky: Patricia, Dumia, Vondra, Acer, Tzarax, Ashura, Mir, and Evan were all still on the Island.

"I'll go a search for them." Dureau said, jumping from the side of the ship and tucking in his massive wings, falling like a hammer back into Victoria. He couldn't explain why, he just knew that he had to be down there, almost as if her were trying to save his brother and mother all over again. But it was a different kind of urgency; yes it was to keep a treasured connection, but one of a slightly different nature, he thought. Helen suddenly felt a strange power begin to wash over her, rushing to the middle of the ship as her cloak diffused into the giant boosting spell behind her, reciting another one of the many spells hidden within it.

"Life and Death, light and dark. With heavenly light thy deeds laid bare, and thou wilt be saved. I call to the ancient force of mine magic, empower me with thy divine authority, and protect those within from this darkness that stands before me!" she shouted, slamming her staff on the deck of the ship while her hair and eyes glowed brightly. A massive protection spell bubbled out from the top of her staff, encompassing all of the ships surrounding them while something like smoldering paper climbed up the outer walls of the spell. When the phenomena was half way up the spell, the ragged line all around them faded away allowing Helen to drop her protection spell, staggering slightly from the massive use of power.

"What was that?" Olsen asked, running to her and reaching out, ready to catch her.

"I know not Olsen, only that the spell coming was one of vast power." Matthew ran to the edge, his eyes becoming wide in shock.

"I really think the rest of you should look at this." He called as they walked over to the edge, staring in surprise and disbelief at what they saw, or rather what they didn't see: the entire continent of Ossyria, including Victoria, Ereve and Ludibrum had disappeared and was replaced with nothing except a vast ocean.

"What happened?!" Jenny screamed.

"Shanks! Take the ship down!" she ordered.

"Nay Shanks! Stay on thy course!" Helen shouted back.

"What are you doing Helen?! Our child was still down there! Your child was still down there! We need to see if they can still be rescued!" Jenny demanded when Helen grabbed her arm as hard as her slender hand could.

"JENNY! Thou wilt hark unto mine words 'ere making any rash choice!"Jenny pulled her arm away from Helen roughly.

"What do you mean by rash choice?!"

"She means that you have to think through your actions. I'm just as worried as you are Jen, But getting these people to safety takes priority. If we let on to the rest of the people that there is something seriously wrong, it will begin to affect them for the worse." Matthew answered.

"I know thou must worry, however Patricia would not become faint to something as this." Helen pointed out, making Jenny let out a ragged breath.

"Our daughters are down there too Jen, but they are all strong, and they have a bond between them that won't allow them to fall apart." Aran said, but even she had trouble believing her own words since she too was worried about Dumia and Vondra.

"But what of the people left behind? What will they do?" Monsoon asked.

"They will most likely be gathered together by them. No doubt there will be some casualties, but I'm sure that they'll do everything that they can. The Heroes won't let something like this shake the world so easily." Firebolt replied, his eyes stern and focused on the railing while he leaned against the main sail.

"What are we going to do about Ossyria though? It can't have just disappeared: I didn't sense that kind of power coming from Clytemnestra." Holocaust commented, pulling the hood from her mass of red curls and looking over the edge of the railing at the churning ocean below.

"We wilt seek counsel 'ere I am sure, but I hath formulated an theory." Helen said in a low voice.

"Some time 'ere we faced The Black Mage 18 years yore, I hath visited the house of Gritto for furthering mine understandings. 'Twas then that I stumbled upon spells and descriptions concerning powerful illusions conjured from a substance known as Dream Fragment. These fragments can then be gathered amass and 'programmed' to bewray what whate'er the person intended. However, neither can one simply find these fragments once they art factious, or simply walk into or out of the area in which the fragments effect."

"So then how do we get to Victoria now that it's gone? And how do we get this 'higher counsel' if our parents and the High Elders were both on Ossyria?"

"I spoke of one not being to 'walk' into the area. However one can 'dream' into the affectioned area. Let us return to Edelstien, 'tis thither that I can dilate further." Helen answered. Holocaust sighed as she listened to Helen's theory, before asking a question that everyone thought, but no one was willing to ask.

"Will the iron grip of the Black Mage ever be broken?"


	8. Chapter 7: The Guardians Emerge: Reborn

Chapter 7: The Guardians Emerge: Reborn

Latimer groaned, opening and closing his jaw to try and get the ringing out of his ears when Ereve hit the ground knocking everyone to the ground. Everything hurt, not to mention the pounding headache he could feel as he tried to move with unsteady steps. Looking up, all he could see around him were bodies: some of them were people lying on the ground unconscious, but others could be seen writhing in pain, using their hands to caudle their bleeding wounds. Latimer did the best he could to stand, falling over time and again as he tried to get to the nearest person.

"Show me where you hurt." Latimer asked, hoping that he wasn't yelling since he couldn't hear anything besides the ringing is his ears. The person moved as best he could showing him a large gash along his inner thigh. Latimer did what he could to keep from throwing up at the sight of so much blood, activating a simple healing spell that he had learned from his parents. However the degree to which this man had been hurt was worse than what the spell could heal quickly and the man was losing blood rapidly.

"HELP! IS ANYONE THERE?!" Latimer called. When he had come with his parents, the last thing that he thought he would need were healing potions, and so didn't bring any. From the haze of the dust still in the air, a figure appeared wearing heavy armor while sporting a mace on his hip and a huge shield strapped to his back.

"I am an elemental knight, what's wrong with this… oh my." He said, kneeling beside him and pulling from his bag an elegant bottle with a strange purple liquid swirling within it. Taking the plug from the mouth, he then dipped a slender glass rod into it and drew it across the man's lips allowing him to swallow the potion. Instantly the man's wound closed over itself, relieving him of the pain that he felt, even allowing him to stand within a few short seconds. The knight then pulled another of the elegant bottles from his bag and gave it to the man he had healed as well as the rod he used.

"Go and see if there are others in need of assistance. Here, use this and only give them as much as sticks to this rod, otherwise it could have adverse effects." The man nodded and headed off into the dust, as did the Knight with Latimer, coming with him for assistance. Latimer managed to find more people, seeing that they too were helping those around them as fast as they could and as best they could. Only a few priests and priestesses were among them to help heal the more serious wounds. The Heroes too were running back and forth as fast as they could; they had been taught a basic healing spell by Minerva, healing some of the less serious injuries such as scrapes and cuts. But amid the chaos of people being helped, there were those that lay still on the ground, their bodies covered by the cloaks and capes they wore when Latimer heard Vondra's voice calling for him.

"Latimer! Good, you're alright. I need you and Dumia to take some of the people here that aren't injured and set up a perimeter. See if you can find anyone that's still out there who's injured." she called, setting down an injured mage then streaking off to find more. Patricia was helping to set someone's broken leg, when she happened to look up into the sky and catch a glimpse of it through the patches of dust that still hung in the air.

"Uh… I'm no expert, but I don't think the sky is supposed to be doing that." She said, pointing it out to Phantom who was walking past her with a handful of boards to use as splints.

"No, no it shouldn't." he replied, watching the sky shimmer as if watching the underside of a lake. Quickly Phantom zipped off to find the others and point out the phenomenon, as they too were confused, not sure what it was they were looking at. Mercedes quickly ran to the northern most boarder she could get to, seeing that the same shimmer came all the way down to the horizon.

"What in Minerva's name is this?" She asked herself when she felt a presence come up behind her. Grabbing her bowgun as she turned around and pointed it into the face of an Elvin man with a large broadsword across his back dressed in a dark red cloak and gold laurel on his temples.

"Be still your majesty, I mean you no harm. What the legends say of your beauty does not do you justice I must say." He said, holding out his hands from under his cloak before kneeling to the ground.

"Who are you? I was queen for nearly 100 years before I answered Minerva's call to fight against the Black Mage. I don't think I've ever seen you in Ellul, yet you call me your queen?" Mercedes asked; this man may look similar to her kind, but his ears were far too long and the power that emanated from him didn't feel at all like the elves of Ellul.

"While it is true that we are of the same kind, we are by no means of the same blood. I am the High Elder of the sword, Harmonia. My colleagues and I have heard much of you Heroes and have come to lend our assistance in any way that we can." Mercedes felt another presence begin to approach behind the first, but Harmonia wasn't responding to this new presence, almost as if he didn't care. She was about to fire off an arrow when another elf, this time a woman, stepped from the brush wearing a purple cloak and a crown of purple briars on her head.

"Peace your majesty, I bring you no harm. I only wish to assist in any way that I can. I am Gritto, High Elder of Magic. I am sure that you've already met Harmonia."

"That I have Gritto." Mercedes answered shortly, clipping her bowgun to her hip once she was sure that these new comers weren't going to harm her.

"Is it safe to say that you were wondering what it was that has happened to the sky?" Gritto asked, at which Mercedes skeptically nodded in return.

"I take it this is your first encounter with Dream Fragments?" She asked. Mercedes furrowed her brow as a knot began to form in the pit of the stomach, which was never a good sign.

"This is _her_ first encounter with Dream Fragments, but I am familiar with them Gritto." Phantom answered with a grin, leaning against a tree.

"What are they exactly?" Mercedes asked, questions building in her eyes. Phantom's smile faded away as he opened his eyes, holding up his hand and looking down at the finely designed portrait of a young blond woman on it.

"They're pieces to a spell so to speak." Phantom replied as Gritto continued.

"Depending on how many one gathers or uses, the stronger the spell and the larger the area one is able to effect." She said motioning to the sky.

"So then all we need to do is find these Dream Fragments and destroy them." Mercedes said, in response.

"It's not that simple Mercedes." Patricia answered, coming to find her when she saw her and Phantom run off followed by Luminous.

"How do you know about the Dream Fragments?" Phantom asked.

"It was part of some studies I did under Helen and read about them in passing, but she made me learn about them in detail even though they were outlawed centuries ago by the Order of Light, namely, Corus the Black." Luminous looked up at her with surprise in on his face, almost as if he had become worried.

"Corus was a part of the Order of Light?" Luminous asked, as he came into the clearing.

"I don't know any details about it, only that he was." Patricia answered.

"Luminous, while I understand that you may have questions, we need to hear this explanation from Lady Patricia." Mercedes responded, making Luminous eye her darkly with his right eye before nodding.

"Dream Fragments are far more than just pieces of a spell. When activated, the events that happen within the area are similar to that of a dream: anything is possible within the area affected and is controlled by the one who cast them. A powerful creature could just appear out of nowhere."

"So then all we need to do is wake up." Mercedes said happily, already trying to clear an area where she stood to lay down comfortably until Gritto chuckled and shook her head.

"It's not that simple either, Your Highness. Once empowered, the Dream Fragments create a pocket dimension to which the affected area is taken. To those outside the area, they see an illusion where the area used to be, while at the same time making the area disappear completely. For all that is known, anyone outside this area could see an unaffected Ossyria, or not see Ossyria at all." She explained. Phantom pulled his weight from the tree and walked over to Gritto with an untrusting light in his eyes, tucking the card into his sleeve.

"What are we to do?" Phantom asked as hope began to fade from Mercedes eyes.

"Destroying the Fragments themselves is the easiest path to take but it is also the most dangerous." Gritto offered.

"How so? Smashing them shouldn't be that dangerous unless there are creatures guarding them." Luminous answered quickly.

"That's not the danger. If you are going to destroy Dream Fragments, you must destroy all of them at the same time. As I said before, one fragment only affects a small area. To have done something of this scale, hundreds of thousands of fragments would have to be used. Unless there are that many people remaining here in Ossyria, there is no chance that you will be able to bring Ossyria back."

"What happens if only one at a time is destroyed?" Patricia asked.

"When multiple fragments are used and only one is destroyed, the area that the one fragment affected disappears."

"You mean, goes back to normal, right?" Patricia asked with anticipation. Gritto looked over to her and sadly shook her head.

"No Lady Patricia. It disappears, simply ceases to exist, in either plain. If all the fragments are not destroyed simultaneously, then Ossyria and everyone on it, will cease to exist."

* * *

"So how exactly are you planning to get to them?" Jack asked apprehensively.

"The phenomena created by the dream fragments art similar to that of a dream. By falling asleep I can, in theory, enter that dream via mine mind and speak with mine grandfather and high elder Gritto to find what can be done. " Helen responded as she disembarked the _Queen's Wing_ and into Edelstein.

"So what exactly did we see surround the ship when you cast that protection spell?" Matthew asked.

"What thou witnessed was Ossyria being taken to 'pocket dimension', and in its place the illusion of the flote. However real said ocean may seem, it remains as nothing but an imitation. One couldst yea swim in it and not wot of the landmass that once resided hence." Olsen worriedly put an arm around her waist, falling into step but remaining silent as he walked. Helen could feel the unease within him, but asking about such things would only get her the reply of him being alright. She didn't need to ask him, she already knew that he was worried for her since even she herself didn't know whether or not she could get into the dimension, or even if she would be able to get back out once there. Olsen gently pulled her to a stop before beginning to speak, worry already making his voice begin to crack.

"Helen, I don't…"

"Oh! Thank the goddess I found you!" a voice called, cutting Olsen short and catching their attention as he stumbled up to them trying to catch his breath.

"Geridon the Temple Keeper, what brings you here?" Aran asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I have been running through town looking for you all afternoon. I was beginning to worry that you had been taken away with Ossyria."

"Is there something wrong with the Temple of Time?" Jenny asked; her shoulders and legs already itched for the excitement of battle. Being the Master Bowman of Henesys was enjoyable, but she missed the action of the battle field.

"No no no, quite the opposite. Rhinne is returning at last and she wishes to speak with you!" Olsen turned to him with wide eyes, reaching to his belt for the large half moon blade of his Pyrope Lunar, while his right arm tensed ready to draw shuriken.

"Does that not mean she will destroy Ossyria? Is she not still under the Curse of the Black

Mage?" he asked, approaching Geridon.

"For now just come. All will be explained once you are there." he panted, as he turned to leave again when Jack stopped him with a firm pull on his shoulder.

"How exactly are we supposed to get through the sheering winds that surround the temple? Cobra the Halfring was the only one that knew the spell to get us through them, and he was in Leafre which has disappeared with Ossyria."

"That is of little worry Jack; I have a portal that leads straight to the temple, but you must come with me quickly, or else it will close soon." There were questions still to be answered, but Geridon had no reason to lead them astray. They double checked their equipment before following him as quickly as they could to a glowing portal on the outskirts of town. Taking a breath, the six of them stepped through the portal as a strange feeling passed over them for a moment then allowed them to step out onto the marble floor of the Temple of Time, where they saw Cobra hovering in mid air as he always had suspended by his long beard.

"How did he get here?!" Jenny squeaked.

"Eh? What was that? Do I have something to fear? What kind of question is that?" Cobra asked through a dry voice when Geridon called for them.

"Rhinne asked me to retrieve him not long before Victoria was once again in contact with the Continent." Geridon responded as he led them through the temple to an area that opened up into a courtyard of sorts with fountains of sand everywhere and hourglasses suspended in small coves of the walls.

"Welcome Guardians. It is an honor to finally meet you in person." A graceful voice echoed, making them all stop and reach for their weapons, listening to the far off sound of gears clicking.

"Be still, I mean you now harm. It is I, Rhinne." The voice continued as a figure began appearing behind them. The woman looked to be no more than a teenager, with long white hair dressed in a flowing single shoulder toga, the bottom moving slowly around her slender legs. Behind her were glowing blue gears, rhythmically turning like a heartbeat, rearranging themselves as she floated down to the ground and opened her blood colored eyes.

"Thank you for bringing them to me Geridon, I am sure they have many questions."

"That we do goddess, but the one I am sure all of want an answer to is how you are able to once again be awake? From what we were told about you, there is a curse still very much alive within you that does not allow you control of your power." Matthew stated, still apprehensively resting his hand on the pummel of the Glory Sword.

"Yes, the curse that was put upon me by Arkarium is still active, but the temple itself has never ceased its quest in ridding my body of it. What he has managed to create is a counter spell, these gears you see behind me, to keep the Black Magic suppressed. There is a negative to this spell however: while this counter spell suppresses the Black Magic within me, the only way to make sure it wouldn't take over, was to suppress my natural powers to near nonexistent levels as well." Helen stepped forwards, concern written across her face.

"Thou art powerless?" Rhinne smiled and gently shook her head.

"No Lady Helen, but I am limited to the extreme in what power I _can_ use. I feel almost as if I am a child once again. But this is not why I have called you here. Recently, the monks and Guards of the temple and even the temple itself, have said that Arkarium has been seen walking the halls, concentrating his activity around an area that leads into the past."

"Haven't you tried to stop him? If he goes into the past he could be trying to undo everything that we fought for." Olsen growled.

"I know that all too well Olsen, and we have managed to slow him down, but we haven't been able to completely stop him. He hasn't returned in quite some time, and the Knights as well as Lilynouch and Lyka have been able to keep him at bay."

"So then what else is there? If you've been able to keep Arkarium away why call us here?" Aran asked with an edge in her voice.

"Because his endeavors have made something else possible: a doorway into the dimension Ossyria was taken to." Rhinne answered, motioning for them to follow her as she led them to a corridor where three huge doors stood, and walked up to the middle door which was slightly ajar.

"Behind this door here is where Arkarium has made a hole into the past, but since we've been able to hold him back, I have also managed to use this hole to create a path into Ossyria."

"I hear a 'but' in this." Jack said with a chuckle.

"There is; I was only able to allow any to pass through it for only three hours. Once that time is up, you will be brought back here and must wait for the same amount of time before returning."

"Is there a reason we are only allowed three hours?" Matthew asked, slowly beginning to trust that she indeed wasn't going to hurt them.

"That is all the power that I can muster. As I said before, this counter spell seals off most of my power in order to keep the curse at bay. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of anymore help."

"Where in Ossryria will this portal lead?" Helen asked.

"It should lead to Leafre and the Minar Forest."

"_Should _lead?" Aran asked with doubt in her voice.

"I can only hope Lady Lillianne since I have no positive confirmation that's where it will lead you." Rhinne replied sadly.

"Well if we only have three hours then we'd better not dilly dally when we go through. Thank you Rhinne, for all that you've done." Olsen smiled taking a small bow before turning to walk through the doors that stood guard before the portal. Rhinne did her best to keep her composure, and when at last they were through, she collapsed to the ground exhausted: even the strength that it took to walk was cut off by the seal.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." She whispered to herself, managing to sit upright while Geridon came over to her with a drink.

"You must not push yourself so hard so soon goddess, you've just awoken after hundreds of years under the sleeping spell and you are weak. You must regain your strength before doing anything more."

"I had to open the portal for them Geridon. Only one of the three Transcendence are left in this world, and even she is at the risk of being tainted by the Black Mage." Rhinne said disappointedly as Geridon tried to counter her.

"That isn't true goddess, you are still alive and you are one of them."

"I cannot be called as such in my current condition. I have barely the power to open a portal between worlds, how can I even begin to call myself the Transcendence of Time once again?"

"The temple has never given up on searching for a way to break the curse completely. You will be able to take up that mantle once again." Gerdon reassured, although he didn't believe his own words, Ossyria needed the Transcendences and without them, there was no telling what could happen.

* * *

"Are you sure you know where you're going?!" Jack called, his voice echoing hundreds of times in the darkness that surrounded them.

"My guess is as good as yours! There's only two things that I see here, and that one looks like it goes somewhere into the past!" Matthew replied taking blind steps towards a portal that was hanging in the air before them.

"How canst thou be sure the second leads to the past?!" Helen called.

"Guys! Why are we yelling? We're standing right next to each other." Aran pointed out as they all stopped and looked around, barely able to make out the silhouette of each other in the darkness.

"Oh, the darkness around me prevented me from seeing thee." Helen answered sheepishly.

"I took a couple steps to it when we first got here, and the stuff that I could see through it looked old, really old." Matthew answered, as they all turned and walked with Matthew towards the light. As they came closer, it felt as if they were being pulled towards it until they were thrust through the light and into what appeared to be the outskirts of Henesys, surrounded by giant mushrooms and snails.

"Is this, Leafre?" Aran asked as the creatures surrounding them suddenly looked to them.

"No, I don't think so." Olsen answered, reaching behind him and grabbing Matthew's pauldron, yanking him down out of the way as a large thorn vine whipped past where he would have been standing a moment before.

"Scatter!" Olsen shouted, throwing down his hand and pulling a shuriken out of his Pyrope Skanda, hurling it at the vine and cutting it away. Just as he was about to reach for his dagger, Helen appeared before him. She held out her hand as a scorching flame erupted from it, engulfing the cloud of spores that had been hurled at him from a large orange topped mushroom. The mushroom looked as though it was getting ready to attack again as the stalk swelled and its cap and eyes began to glow a bright purple. Helen teleported away allowing Olsen to hurl the shuriken he had drawn.

In the air before him, a seal burst to life and just as he swung, shrinking around where his arm was going to pass through and just as his hand made contact, winds curled around his arm as he let one shuriken then another go with thunderous force. The shuriken easily passed thought the mushroom's body, letting the air out it had breathed in with clouds of spores. Before it even had a chance to take another breath, Olsen had drawn his blade, streaking past it to split it in half. But even the hard swing he had dealt to the creature felt as if it did nothing; even the wounds that the shuriken had dealt looked to be healing over.

He then slammed the pummel of his dagger into his palm as the creature turned around, breathing in readying to spew another cloud of spores of him. Hot pink flames roared to life around Olsen while his eyes and hair shimmered, various seals flaring around him enhancing his strength. Like a comet, he hurtled around the mushroom, stopping on a single knee while the wind finally caught up.

For a brief moment, the mushroom sat there until something like black aura swirled around it, shrinking into its body while its form began shrinking as well. Olsen looked back to see what it was that he had hit; it felt as if his blade had passed through nothing but air. What he had actually hit one of the less dangerous creatures in all of Ossyria, a normal Orange Cap mushroom, which then wheezed and shriveled away. Olsen was so enthralled by what had happened that he didn't feel the giant snail creeping up behind him, swinging the thick vine at him until the clang of Matthew's Gaia Shield woke him.

"Olsen! Are you losing your touch?! Come on this is battle here!" Matthew shouted, grabbing his Glory sword and swinging through another four mushrooms that burst through the ground readying to breathe a cloud of spores on them. But their wounds healed quickly as they readied to breathe again, this time being subjected to a swishing of the powerful Intrepid Slash. Again the wounds inflicted by the slashes began healing just as quickly.

The sound of a hard breath fell over Matthew while a seal shrank down over him. Again and again Matthew unleashed the Intrepid Slash , building up the Warrior's Overcharge until he absorbed all the orbs and swung hard, unleashing a powerful shockwave that roared through the holes his Slash opened, punching through them and reducing them once again to the normal mushrooms.

Jenny stood back to back with Helen, firing arrows that became flaming streaks through the air, only to snap off the snail's shells leaving behind the scars. With a frustrated huff she reached for her crystal power, her body taking on a bright green glow while the skin around her eyes took on a fern–like tattoo. As she drew her bow, winds howled around the Spine Arrow. As she released it, she turned letting the sheet of arrows cut through the shells of the snails.

They too looked as if black aura pulled back into their bodies, turning back into nothing but normal ruby shell snails before turning into a puddle of mush. A mushroom exploded from under the ground next to her, making Jenny swing her bow hard and catching the giant mushroom in a whirlwind, tearing it from the ground and into the air where Jenny hit it with a bomb arrow charged with crystal power. However the mushroom looked as though it popped rather than exploded.

"Helen, there's something strange about these creatures! It's almost as if they've been filled with some kind of Aura." Jenny called before ducking to the left, avoiding the heavy vine coming down on her. Helen turned this way and that, sending plumes of flames or clouds of frozen air at these creatures, pushing some of them away or burning others to the ground, watching how each of the mushrooms and snails looked, returning to normal before dying.

"Aran! Jack! Use thy power and gather these beasts within one area!" Helen called, switching to her sacred abilities, readying to cast her Dispelling Method.

"Take mine light and let it descend upon thy soul to heal the scars that plague thee…" Aran gathered her momentum, thrusting as hard as she could to unleash a beam of light. It first pierced the skin of the mushroom before her, tearing it from the ground and pushing it back through six others and a couple snails. Jack retracted the blades on his knucklers, hitting the creatures as hard as he could while pushing them back into the same grouping. Aran. Matthew, Olsen and Jenny did what they could as well, pushing back other creatures into the same group so that they could eliminate as many as they could.

"Let the wounds to thy heart be healed. By the power I have, may the power within thee be dispelled!" Helen called in a commanding voice, as wings spread from behind her centered on a black orb. Bright light then flashed from the wings as they spread wide onto the creatures, seeping into their skins and began to make a dark glow leak from them, shrinking back into their normal forms. Helen brought her hands before her as if holding a ball where the black Aura gathered in hers hands.

Before dissipating it, Helen almost seemed drawn to the power watching as it swirled within her palm. With a slow fascination she held out her free hand around the orb of energy, slowly closing her hand around it and her eyes darkening to near black when Olsen grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from it. Helen almost looked agitated that he would dare do such a thing. As he gripped her wrist, he sent a pulse of Pink Quartz through her which loosed the grip of her darker self. Helen's eyes slowly returned to normal and her person returned to that which Olsen knew.

"Forgive me Olsen. I lost mine self for a moment."

"I said that I wouldn't let this Black Magic have you back. It a promise that I endeavor to keep." Olsen replied, moving his hand so that instead he laced his fingers with hers as she dispelled the energy she had gathered on her hand.

"They're all just, normal creatures." Jack pointed, out kneeling down to take a closer look at one of the snails, poking at its eye with his finger.

"Indeed. All these creatures were infected with some kind of power. T'was not Black Magic; this power felt as if it possessed life. However, it hath been twisted. It was…" Before Helen could finish her sentence, her eyes and hair suddenly glowed while small threads spread out from around her feet, crawling partway up her legs.

"Helen? Helen! What's wrong? Helen!" Olsen called as he shook her shoulders, watching the small threads of violet light slowly begin to turn aqua. Olsen was about to pull her away from the area when a hand grabbed onto him and stopped him.

"Don't touch her! Let her be; she will be alright." Olsen reached for his dagger to ward off the person stopping him, but when he turned he was jarred to see the High Elder Hellin holding his arm.

"What do you mean let her be?! Something is taking over her!" Matthew shouted as he went to pull Helen away from the area when Harmonia stopped him as well with a hard jerk.

"Listen to Hellin." Gritto called as she, Samuel and Legor came into the area.

"That is my wife you are letting be taken over!" Olsen bellowed, throwing Hellin to the side when he was standing face to face with Latimer.

"Dad, you know as well as I do that mom has always had a strange connection with nature around her. She can control five different types of magic for crying out loud!"

"Latimer is correct Master Olsen. This is not some form of a mental take over, this light comes directly from Ossyria itself." Legor comforted. Olsen relaxed slightly, thinking back to when she would sometimes take on the same look she had now when something magical was trying to communicate with her, or was happening around her before they had defeated the Black Mage.

"Fear not Olsen, your beloved is in no danger. I am the life of Ossyria, Mundus Arbor. I must apologize for frightening you as such, but I have no other means by which to communicate with you." Helen said, her voice sounding slightly deeper than normal.

"You must have many questions, but there is no time for them for she cannot withstand my power for long. As you have seen, some of the creatures within Ossyria have changed, becoming ferocious beasts that attack without provocation. My power within Ossyria is somehow being tainted by the power of the one calling herself Clytemnestra in Ereve, which has now made contact with the continent once more. You must stop her by any means you can, for if what I feel this woman intends then all of Ossyria is in grave danger." All at once the small threads around Helen's feet pulled away, letting her collapse to the ground where Olsen caught her, shaking her slightly to awaken her.

"I am alright my love. Thou needst not worry." Aran knelt down before her, setting her halberd down as Maha appeared from it and sat on her shoulder.

"Helen, did you…"

"Aye Aran, I was able to hear the words of Ossyria. It hath me concerned as well." She answered, looking up to see that the Heroes and the rest of their children had gathered around.

"Mom! Dad you're here!" Patricia shouted, running at Jenny and Jack, enveloping the both of them tightly.

"How did you guys get here? I mean, into where we are…"

"There's no time to explain Patty. We actually came here in hopes to speak with the High Elder Gritto about what's going on. Helen filled us in on what might be causing it, but we wanted to be sure." Matthew said, being tackled as Dumia and Vondra both put their arms around him. At the request of Gritto, Helen retold what she had explained to the others which she sadly confirmed.

"That being said, the only way to safely return Ossyria back to its place is to kill the one who had activated the Fragments."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Back up. You said nothing about that Gritto. You just said that we needed to smash the dream fragments!" Patricia hollered.

"I said that was the easiest route, but also the most dangerous. Before I had a chance to tell you of the other option, you and the others simply left to come here before I could explain." Gritto reasoned.

"In any case, now that our folks are here, there shouldn't be any trouble with bringing down Clytemnestra." Vondra said, leaning against Matthew who looked up to Aran with a disheartened look in his eyes.

"Vondra, sweety, there's something that you should know. We won't be able to help you this time." Aran said, walking over to her daughters and placing a hand on Dumia's shoulder.

"What do you mean? You guys are here now aren't you? You broke through to help us didn't you?!" Latimer asked, looking back and forth between his parents and Patricia's.

"No Latimer, I'm afraid not. Rhinne was able to create a portal into Ossyria, but we can only stay here for a little under three hours at a time. In that amount of time there's no way that we'd be able to help you." Jack answered, swallowing knowing that it wasn't the answer that he wanted to give.

"No… no that's not fair! We don't know the first thing about real battle! You guys do! And if this thing, this Clytemnestra was created by the Black Mage, you guys are the only ones who have faced him besides the Heroes!" Dumia said as she backed away from Matthew slightly.

"Trust me Dumia, we _want_ to help you. But with our limited time here, the best that we could hope to do is come for a visit." Aran reasoned walking forward and hugging her close, stroking her hair.

"Look, all of you just need to get over it! We have a world to save and there's no use standing around here whining about who's here and who isn't!" Maha shouted, the cutting edge of the weapon glowing brightly. Aran lowered her head and smiled, shaking her head.

"Maha says that if you don't act soon, there will be nothing worth saving." Maha's form turned red, leaning down to Aran's ear and began shouting at her as loud as he could.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID YOU…" But Aran simply tuned him out and listened to what the others had to say, thankful that no one else could hear the hot headed words Maha screamed. Mercedes turned to them with a smile, offering her own words of comfort.

"There is no need to fret young ones. If what I've heard about you and your parents is true, then you four are not simply their children, you are their essence. Yes they have faced the Black Mage and his powerful magic, but you have trained hard to arrive at this point. Not so that you could live up to the legacy your parents left behind, but so that you could protect those of Ossyria against the Black Wings." Phantom smiled as he walked up to them, flipping his blond hair away from his eyes.

"If you haven't been training as hard as you have for a time such as this, then what were you training for at all?" He asked smoothly, yet sternly as Helen rode the encouraging wave of words.

"Hear me Latimer, and all of thee. Verily thou art our children, and we hast watched three grow through thy years of life. Anon of all times Ossyria yerns for heroes; our time hath long passed, and anon 'tis thee who shall rise and become the beacon of hope to the people of Ossyria." With each word that Helen said, confidence slowly began to build within them, the Heroes smiling their own approval.

"Patricia Waterman; Latimer Olman Da'lor; Vondra and Dumia Drake; we five masters of Ossyria hath seen thy power and hereby say that thou art anon, The Guardians of Ossyria." Helen continued as Matthew stepped forward, gathering them all in the center and turning each one to their parents.

"And with this title we give you this charge: stay with the Heroes, help them regain their power that was once lost. If you are able, find others who will help you in your journey, and finally, defeat Clytemnestra and return Ossyria to its rightful place." Matthew said proudly, holding out his hand where a red glow formed into a gem, each of the others holding out their hands with glowing gems in their hands as well when Jenny offered an explaination.

"This is a small portion of power we contain; the power of the Four Crystals. Should you need to, you will be able to use this and enhance your power many times over. However this power comes with a warning; do not use this power until it is that absolute last resort since it will push your bodies far beyond its limits. In addition, only use this power for short bursts, for when you cease using it, you will be exhausted." She and the other Guardians maneuvered around until they had come to the one who the power would best suit.

"To Latimer, I Jenny bestow the power of the Emerald Crystal."

"To Vondra, I Olsen bestow the power of the Pink Quartz."

"To Patricia, I Helen bestow upon thee, the power of the Amethyst Crystal.

"To Dumia, I Matthew bestow the power of the Ruby Crystal." As each of them made their announcements, a disk-like gem was placed in their hands, each of them feeling the power pulsing in their palms as though it were alive. Jack looked over to Matthew, reaching his hand over to his cloak with questions in his eyes. Matthew sighed, thinking about all the forms that he had made with this cloak knowing that once he gave it to them, those forms would be erased and they would have to start over. But it was something that they would need for the foes ahead. Sadly he nodded, reaching back and taking his Gaia cloak from around his shoulders, while the others did the same.

"In addition to these gems, we give you these, the Gaia Cloaks. These cloaks are far more than just a piece of cloth to hang from around your shoulders, they are tools. Listen to what they tell you, and they will intern help you on your journeys." Matthew said, hanging the Golden Gaia around Dumia's neck. Patricia shivered when Helen draped the Gaia of Shadows onto her shoulders. Vondra breathed in awe as the Crimson Gaia was placed in her hands, while Latimer grinned broadly as Jenny handed him the Azure Gaia. Jack folded the Emerald Gaia neatly, handing it to Dumia with a sad smile.

"Be sure to get this to Acer when you see him. I don't know where he is, but he's going to need this one. If you have any questions, you should be able to ask the Advance Masters or the High Elders for help." Jack said. Dumia nodded, tucking the cloak under her arm and admiring the cloak around her shoulders, something that she had always wondered what it would look like around her neck. No sooner had they been given the cloaks, than the Masters began to fade.

"It looks as if three hours have passed already. Remember, you four are the new 'Guardians of Ossyria': You will defeat this new foe, and you _will_ be able to overcome it." Aran called, as she and the others faded from view. Luminous could be heard sighing heavily, all at once remembering that he still had yet to return to the Golem's Temple and Beuwon to find out if the mine was indeed able to be restarted.

"Well, where to now?" Vondra asked tucking the gem she had received into the sleeve of her glove.

"I have business that I must attend to at the golem's temple on the other side of Henesys. If you don't wish to accompany me that will be alright, but I must go."

"Well, as our parents asked us to do before all of this took place, we're your chaperone until you three have gotten your power back up to snuff." Dumia called, walking into the tree line and climbing up into her Mech, initiating the start up sequence as she buckled in.

"_You_ are going to be _our_ Chaperones? Ha! What kind of prank are you pulling here? We don't _need_ chaperones." Phantom huffed, smirking with confidence beaming from his being.

"No, I'm pretty sure that you're gonna need us for a little while. Besides, the world that you knew is upside down now. But if you're so confident that you don't need us…" Patricia looked over her shoulder and saw what appeared to be a giant pig walking around, patrolling the area.

"…why don't you take on that creature over there and prove that you don't need us." She finished with a smirk, hanging her wand on her belt and crossing her arms.

"No, I don't think that will be necessary. I am the Phantom Thief, I shouldn't need to prove myself."

"Yeah right. You're just scared; you do need us."

"Alright that is enough!" Mercedes said, holding her hands out to her sides before turning to Phantom to try and convince him their need of these children.

"Phantom, the world we knew has long since gone away. We need these young people here to help us regain the power that we have lost."

"Speak for yourself Your Highness. Remember it was you who needed me to defeat the Black Mage." Phantom huffed, pushing out his chest proudly. Luminous lunged at him, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him against a tree red light in his eyes burning brightly, even streaming from it.

"I am growing _SICK _of your constant whining! First you're too arrogant too see what Minerva asked us to do. Then you have the gall to come back and help us once your pathetic Empress was taken from you and 'helped' us break into the temple of time, too busy looking for valuables with the powers that Minerva gave you rather than helping to stop him! And finally, you leave us right as the battle with the Mage himself was reaching its zenith to save your own sorry hide! If you want to help us that's fine, but leave your 'mightier than thou' attitude back on the ship. Otherwise, stay out of the way where you belong!" Luminous growled. Phantom grit his teeth, pushing Luminous away and grabbing a card from his belt, hurling it into the air which then took the shape of a bull, charging at Luminous and throwing him into the air. Quickly the card returned to Phantom as he drew another, throwing it straight into the air when the hazy image of a large knight appeared. This time it slammed its sword into the ground, bringing Luminous with it and returning to Phantom's hand.

"Don't you DARE speak of Aria that way again! Aria was much more than just a…"

"Just what Phantom? A treasure? A possession? A challenge? She was never anything other than an object to you!" Luminous howled in return, making Phantom charge at him. He knocked the staff from Luminous hand and stood with the point of a thin sword he had drawn from his cane aimed at Luminous' neck.

"Aria was _never_ an object I wished to add to my collection. She was the one person, the only _person_, I have _ever_ let into my life! If that's how you've felt even after all this time, then I want no part of you or these 'Guardians'." Phantom hissed, shoving the sword back into the cane hard and walking away from them with a haughty grunt.

"Phantom, where are you…"

"Let him go Mercedes. He's made up his mind. We'll continue on our own." Latimer called, holding out a hand and bringing Luminous to his feet. As Phantom walked away, thoughts of his past came to mind when he first met his teacher Raven.

"_You can live or die; the choice is yours._" Raven's voice echoed in his mind, still able to see the arm mounted cross bow aimed at him as a child. Shaking his head, he tried pushing the memory away which still haunted him to this day. He had come home to find that his parents had been killed by Raven.

"_And even after all the time that I spent learning from him, that bastard went and got himself killed, and not by me._" His thoughts raged as he walked into the forest, still seething.

* * *

Dureau scanned over the miles and miles of forests below him, searching endlessly for the scent of his underling. He couldn't explain it, but he felt a tight knot building in his chest, something that he had never felt before and wasn't sure how to deal with it except to search. Now that the Dream Fragments had cut him off from the rest of the world, the only thing that he felt was worry for Mastema. But she was in Edelstein, wasn't she? Moments after the Fragments had fully taken over, he caught a whiff of her scent and instantly began following where it had come from, leading him into the desert of Ariant. He stopped only for a short while in the desert town to get water, before continuing on following her scent. It took him towards a town that smelled of oil and plants: Magatia.

"_What would Mastema be doing in a place like this?_" He asked himself, landing gently in the middle of town, aware that he had lost her scent and could now only smell oil and machines bustling about him.

"Well this was a massive waste of time." He mumbled to himself when he caught her scent again, but this time, there was the smell of blood on the air as well; and it was coming from the north end of the town. With a hard push he glided over the people, heading straight for a building with a sign that said 'Zenumist'. Bursting through the door, an old man looked up at him in surprise having a flasks in his hands. Dureau calmly walked up to him, standing a few inches taller than him while the light from his Ageis made the room glow a pale blue.

"Where is she?" he asked flatly as the man shook his head in confusion.

"Who are you talking about? No one has come in here or left all day!" the man said franticly. Dureau was about to reach for his mace when he heard the sound of something hitting the floor in the back as a weak meow. With a beat of his wings, Dureau went streaking through the building following the scent of Mastema's blood, bursting through the door at the end of the hall. What he saw was something that looked be two flasks filled with red and blue liquid jumping one at a time as though they were legs towards Mastema. She lay still on the floor, part of her fur bloodied as well as the flesh of her right wing torn.

Dureau disappeared in a burst of speed, swinging his mace hard making a monster erupt from his mace and throw the flask creature back. Dureau then crossed his wings over himself while a deep green light glowed from around them. Characters of the Khyune language appeared on the membrane flesh of his wings. The flask creature tried to get up, once again walking towards them one step at a time and repairing the cracks in the glass as it went until Dureau lunged it. His left arm turned into nothing but Aura Claws that raked across the creature, scratching the glass in high pitch screams as he hurled it back into the wall. He held his mace back, enveloped by a black and red aura shaping itself into a large scythe.

"Stay away from her." he growled, swinging the scythe so fast that the wind from it took nearly ten seconds to catch up until the glass of the creature first shattered, then exploded letting the liquids from within it spill onto the ground. As he put his mace back, Dureau walked back to Mastema, crouching down to touch her bloody violet fur. Out of reaction, Mastema quickly opened her jaw and clamped down on the hand that was touching her, still tense from the battle that she had been waging. But when she saw the hand was that of her master's she quickly removed her fangs from his hand and shrank away from him, tucking her paws and tail under herself.

"I'm sorry master, I didn't know that was you. I…" When she looked up, Dureau simply pulled his hand back, opened and closed his hand a few times and then reached for her again. Mastema shut her eyes and braced for whatever was going to come, but was surprised when Dureau simply put his hand on her head, running one of his fingers down the middle of her head as though petting her.

"Try not to let it happen again. What exactly were you after?" he asked calmly, gently petting her again.

"I had heard a rumor saying that a creature here contained a liquid that would turn anyone into the thing they desire the most. And what I desire is my human form! I can't even battle a simple creature as this in this form and I am tired of being in this form!" She explained, fighting the urge to turn back and begin licking her wound.

"Mastema, you should have come to me with this information. I would have easily defeated this creature for you." Dureau gently scolded. Mastema smiled, but it was somewhat sad since she knew he was still seeing her as his subordinate.

"You were looking for the Rurumo Liquid?" a voice asked. Dureau turned and reached for his mace, scooping up Mastema ready to attack. Mastema flinched in pain but was more surprised by Dureau's actions.

"And who would you be?" Dureau asked as the man came more into view.

"My name is Bedin, assistant to Carson. That creature you just fought was actually a result of the Rurumo Liquid created in an experiment using the extract of the Rumo Plant. If you want, I can easily make some more for you. May I ask what you will be using It for?" He asked as he turned and motioned for them to follow.

"I require it to, experiment myself." Dureau answered flatly. Bedin raised his eyebrows for a moment as he led them, shrugging as if to stop himself from further asking questions. As he said, the Rurumo Liquid was quickly created and given to him in a flask.

"Ah finally! I'll be able to return to my former self!" Mastema said excitedly, ignoring her stinging side as she jumped up onto one of the desks, searching for other ingredients and herbs.

"Does she plan on using that on herself?" Bedin asked, sounding worried.

"Yes she does. It has been a very long time and Mastema wishes to return to her former self, a human form." Dureau answered, watching Mastema as she sniffed around the desk for different potions, pouring small amounts into another flask.

"No! That liquid was never meant to be used by living beings!" Bedin warned, reaching for the flask in Dureau's hand, but missed when he pulled it away, giving him a hard look.

"It's a risk that I'm willing to take human." Mastema said sternly, rubbing her paws together as she put the last of the herbs she needed into the flask.

"If you would Dureau, could you pour the Rurumo Liquid into this flask, since I can't do it myself." Over Bedin's fighting protests, Dureau poured it in and waited with a tinge fear running through him. The last time she tried anything was when she shot herself with the strange laser from the aliens in Omega Sector, which thankfully only knocked her out.

"_Why am I fearful for her life to begin with?_" Dureau wondered, still unsure whether or not it was a good idea to let her continue. Before he could voice any further concerns, Mastema had already consumed the flask's contents, sitting impatiently on the desk waiting for it to take effect. Suddenly a pressure was building in her chest, becoming hard to breathe making her fall from the desk to the ground. Dureau knelt down and reached out a hand for her when Bedin stopped him.

"It's the effect of the Rurumo Liquid: it's a transformation catalyst. Whatever she put in addition to it must be clashing with it or had made it more potent. If you touch her now the effect could affect you as well. Who knows what would happen." Dureau looked on with worry as Mastema twitched and writhed on the floor until a cloud began forming around her. Bedin pulled him away so that the fumes wouldn't touch him and maybe adversely affect him. as the could thickened around Mastema, Dureau saw a hand reach out from under the cloud as it cleared.

"Ah, it feels good to be back… wait, why does my voice sound like Master Dureau!" Mastema asked, looking down at her hands before running to a window, looking at herself in the reflection as her cheeks suddenly became bright red in embarrassment. What she saw instead of her well known human form, it was instead an exact copy of Dureau. As her cheeks blazed bright red, the transformation canceled itself returning her to her cat form, hiding her burning cheeks.

"What happened? I though you said that it would turn you into the thing that you desire most, and you said that it was your human form that you wanted." Dureau chuckled. Mastema looked away from the window so that Dureau wouldn't see the look in her eyes, fighting as hard as she could to keep from looking into his eyes.

"I-I-I-I don't know. Maybe some of the herbs I used were old or I put in the wrong amounts. Y-yes that its. I must have just done something like that." Mastema stuttered, trying to explain the events.

"_Oh! Why did it have to turn out like this?! The one person I want more than anything in this world is Master Dureau! Even if I wished for my human form as hard as I could, I could never suppress the desire I have for him enough to…_" Her thoughts were cut short when she felt Dureau's hand wrap around her and pick her up, chuckling in a low voice and hold her close to his chest.

"We'll find a way of retrieving your human form Mastema." He said calmly turning and walking out the door. He felt relieved that Mastema was alright and that nothing serious had happened to her. Yes, there was the loss of his family, and even if the company of Mastema was annoying at times he was secretly thankful for her presence. Maybe it was his pride or maybe it was just some misplaced sense of authority that kept him from allowing himself to show his appreciation for her.

And then there were her actions as of late, especially when they were still back in the High Guard garage; she had nearly kissed him when she temporarily regained her human form while helping him heal a wound. Perhaps Mastema was more to him than he realized and maybe he would eventually be able to open up. For now, there was the matter of Clytemnestra and what she was doing in place of The Mage. If he couldn't get to The Mage himself, then she would serve as the next best thing.

"_Mother, Damian… I will avenge you. Just hang on a little longer._"

* * *

**Just added minor updates**


	9. Chapter 8: The Ghosts that Haunt Us

Chapter 8: The Ghosts That Haunt Us

Phantom silently relaxed on his bed in the Lumiere docked just outside of Henesys before the fall of Ereve and the activation of the Dream Fragments, stuck here in this pocket dimension. He turned the massive Fire Emerald in his hand this way and that, watching the light glisten onto the walls replaying the words that he had said to Luminous his mind.

"_If that's how you've felt even after all this time, then I want no part of you or these 'Guardians'._" With an agitated huff he got up and put the large gem back on its stand and looked out the window.

"_I am the Phantom Thief; I always work alone._" He told himself, pulling a card out with and beautiful woman painted on it, staring at it long and hard.

"Aria…" he whispered to himself, his thoughts trailing off to all those centuries ago when he had found Aria dead after rushing back to her when he heard about the attack on Ereve.

"Master Phantom? Are you busy?" a voice called through the door to his room, making him quickly put the card away and open his door.

"Ah, Christiane." He happily answered, looking over her with questions building in his eyes at her appearance.

"What happened to you? You look as though you've been traipsing through mud pits." Phantom chuckled when he saw that her shoes and legs were slightly stained with dark earth.

"I had gone to that same child puppeteer's house after you had discovered that doll, poking around for anything that might be of help to you." she answered, unconsciously trying to hide her shoes from view.

"And did you find anything?" Phantom asked uninterestedly, looking over to one of the many fine paintings he had stolen long ago.

"I did. Apparently, the young lad was under the command of a woman by the name of Eleanor. Furthermore, she was under command of a young woman by the name of Orca." Phantom became serious, looking down to her while she continued.

"_That name, why does it sound so familiar?_"

"Also, my source that led you to the doll has said that he wishes to speak with you, and that it is a matter of great urgency. I already have Renault headed in that direction."

"And why would it be of any interest to me? If it is so urgent, then I'm sure that the…"

"It has to do with the Seal of Victoria you and the other Heroes created. He wouldn't give me any details over the radio and said that you had to come at once." Christiane urged while Phantom huffed, reaching for his fez and cape once more while checking over his cards to make sure that he had all that he would need. As he sifted through the deck, he came upon a card with finely printed writing on the header written in ornate calligraphy: Carte Blanc. Phantom chuckled to himself: this card was something that he had taken from his master Raven all those years ago after he had died from a mortal wound, making his eye ache slightly.

"There is nothing that you can do to stop me now Raven. _I_ am the one who chooses when and _if_ to draw a blade." He mumbled to himself, pulling his cloak over his shoulders and preparing to disembark as memories of his past still haunted him.

Monday, April 14th 1400, Ariant

"_Heh, mother and father are going to be so proud of me! I managed to get three more persimmons with the gold they gave me than normal!_" the young boy thought, carrying the small bag of groceries in his arms with a smile on his face when he heard a woman's scream from down the road.

"_Wait a minute, that sounded like mother's voice!_" Right after the woman's scream, he could hear a man's voice crying, shouting at someone.

"What right do you have to do something like this?! Why?! You've already taken what you came for so why not just leave us alone?!" the man's voice screamed.

"_That's father's voice!" _the boy thought, beginning to run as fast as he could to his home when he heard his father's voice scream in agony, followed by his mother's voice again.

"Mother! Father what's wrong?!" he called, running up to the front door where he saw a tall, broad shouldered man standing in the shadows of his home. He was frozen in fear; whoever this person before him was, he didn't look human. Especially with that bird's beak standing out from his face and his angry soulless eyes staring back at him. When the boy managed to pull his gaze away from the man, his little heart felt as if it had been ripped from his chest, seeing both his mother and father laying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Mother, Father… I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed. But he was stopped short when the man quickly turned around and lifted his arm, pointing the arm mounted cross bow between his eyes.

"Try it if you can." He said in a tone that matched his soulless eyes, almost sounding happy about what he had done. The boy couldn't even make his body move, even when every fiber of his being screamed for him to run. When he didn't do anything, a sallow smile spread across the man's face and his grip slowly tightened around the trigger of the crossbow.

"I'm going to count to three, and I'm going to fire. You can live or die, the choice is yours." He said with a growl.

"One…" The boy tried to get his body to move, but nothing that he commanded was working.

"Two…" Again and again he tried to move, even going so far as to try and pick up his legs to move, but still unable to do anything.

"Three." With an easy squeeze, the twang of the tension arms sprung forward, hurling the bolt for him. At last he was able to move, pulling the bag of fruits in front of his face and catching the bolt in the bag. It was launched with such force that it pierced through the bag and grazed his cheek as the boy jerked his head out of the way to avoid being hit. The man just laughed once, lowering his arm and readying to leave when the boy rushed at him and bit down as hard as he could on his leg. With a swift swing, the boy found himself flung across the street into a jar of water while the man stood over him, taking the mask from his face and placing it on the boy's head before turning and walking away.

"I'm hungry, go find me something to eat." The boy wiped his eyes of his tears, touching his gum where one of his teeth had been knocked out.

"But I don't have any money." The boy whimpered.

"I don't care how you get it, just get me some food. If you come back empty handed, you'll see your parents again." He said, turning back to the boy. Hatred boiled in his young eyes as he watched that same smile spread across the man's face. The boy could only grit his teeth, staring at the man hard enough that he hoped it would kill him only to be laughed at by the man.

"Only when you are able to out steal me, then you may kill me. I am Raven, master thief; what's your name, boy?" Raven asked mockingly. The boy could only grit his teeth in anger until he had decided on what name to give him.

"Phantom… The name is Phantom!" he called back.

"No, you must _earn_ a name like that, what is your name?" Raven replied. Phantom stood to his feet and wiped his eyes angrily efore answering him.

"I told you that my name is Phantom, and it's the only name that you're going to get!" Raven quickly walked back to Phantom and held out his arm again, the crossbow already reloaded.

"Tell me your name. I have no use for a brat that can't follow orders." Raven sneered, tensing his hand on the trigger, but Phantom's face remained still, not about to let his intimidation change his mind.

"You've killed everyone in that family. From their blood, a Phantom arose." Phantom answered, looking up at him with cold, expressionless eyes that made Raven laugh to himself.

"You just may kill me yet, Phantom. Now go and get me some food before I change my mind about killing you right now." Raven commanded, watching as Phantom walked slowly out of his presence.

"_I will become the best thief that Ossyria has ever seen Raven, just you watch. And when I do, I'll be the one laughing when I take your life!_"

* * *

"… I couldn't believe what had happened when Freud said that Aria had been killed. Phantom had this air about him that was so… depressed, angry even." Mercedes finished, returning to the warm drink in her hands and sighing disappointedly. So far the people on the outskirts of Henesys had managed to pull together a small refugee camp. After Phantom had stormed off, Vondra and the other kids had asked for an explanation on why Luminous and Phantom were at each other's throats.

"There had to be something that drove them to be angry at each other like they were." Vondra pushed as Mercedes pulled the cup away from her lips and smiled sadly.

"Yes, there is. Aria was in fact Luminous's younger sister." The news took all of them aback, staring in stunned silence for a moment before Patricia broke the odd silence.

"His sister? I thought that Aria only had one sister. There was never any mention of a brother. So is Luminous is like a prince or something?!" Mercedes nodded, making a look of contemplation come over her face before answering.

"In a manner of speaking yes; but in joining with the Order of Light he relinquished his title as prince, thus making his existence as royalty non-existent. He was however still considered family. Mention of him in history never shows that he was."Mercedes answered. Patricia laughed nervously, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I bet you never had anything like that ever happen to you before you became Queen of the Elves." Patricia said, making a faraway look grace Mercedes eyes while looking down and taking another sip of her drink.

"I suppose." Mercedes answered until she heard a voice calling from what sounded like a far distance. She stood to try and see who it was that had called her, but everywhere she looked there was no one when she heard it again. This time it sounded as if it were right behind her. Still she searched and searched, ignoring the questions from the Guardians until she remembered that she and the Elders were linked telepathically.

"_Your highness can you hear me?"_ the voice of Philius asked.

"_Yes Philius, I can._" the worry sounded like it was thick in her voice: what was it that could possibly be wrong? At least they had made it through Ereve crashing into Victoria unscathed.

"_My lady you must return to Ellul! Somehow the water that flows through the palace has been poisoned. We are doing everything we can to heal those that have been poisoned, but in that time we haven't had the time nor people strong enough to move to find who and where this poison has come from._"

"_I will be right there_. Guardians, grab my hand, I just may need your assistance in something." Mercedes suddenly said, each of them grabbing hands when Dumia stepped back.

"Dumia! Come on, we need you here!" Latimer argued.

"I can't. I'll take the long way to this place, you just keep this on you and I'll get there as soon as I can." Dumia called, tossing Latimer a transmitter while she buckled in and started her mech. Mercedes nodded and began to weave her transport spell, when memories of something similar happening when she was young came to her.

Ellul, June 10th, 1283

"Princess Mercedes, wait up!" a young voice called, running as fast as she could to keep up.

"Orchid, I told you that I have to do this on my own. A young one such as you would only be in the way." Mercedes answered back, trekking through the forest that surrounded her father's kingdom looking for some medicinal herbs as part of her training. Orchid was Elder Astilda's granddaughter; since her mother, father and grandmother were all busy with the duties of palace life, she had latched onto Mercedes and followed her everywhere.

"You know that I can't walk as fast as you Princess! Please wait for me." Orchid wailed, finally wearing her down to stop and wait for the young one to catch up to her. Mercedes was still quite young, having just added another annual to her life bringing the count to 33. Orchid however was even younger than her, not much more than a new born with only 17 annuals to her name, and as such still had much to learn about Ossyria and elfin life. When Orchid finally did catch up, she stood for a few moments catching her breath, her skin looking slightly paler that usual.

"Orchid are you feeling alright? Your skin is the color of snow." Mercedes asked, walking back to her.

"It's nothing, I'm just not as energetic as you." she panted. But when she moved to take a step, Orchid collapsed to the ground, her breathing harder than usual. Mercedes knelt down to her, setting a hand on her back to try and use the simple healing spell she had learned from Astilda. As she concentrated on the spell, her eyes caught a small scrape on Orchid's leg just above her ankle. Looking down the path that Orchid had taken, she saw a small fern-like plant hanging over the path. Upon a closer look, she saw that it was what she feared: Fire Fern. A poisonous plant with sharp spines and stiff branches, making anyone who brushed up against it cut by the spines, rubbing it potent poison into the wounds. If it wasn't treated fast enough, the poison could be deadly. Without saying anything, Mercedes hoisted Orchid onto her back and began running as fast as she could back for Ellul.

"What about the herbs?" Orchid mumbled.

"Forget them, we can always search for those later. We need to get you back to the healer." She answered, met by her Pegasus Onora, jumping onto her back to get to Ellul even faster.

"How long ago did she get the poison into her body?" the healer asked, pouring charcoal into a small bit of water and rubbing it onto her wound.

"I don't know. By the time that I had seen her, her skin was already quite pale and her breathing was labored." Mercedes answered, reaching for a bottle of bitter herbal salve.

"Then she must have been touched much sooner than the plant that you saw. Fire Fern doesn't affect its victim that quickly, but it's a good thing that you caught her when you did. Any later and she would be beyond my… oh dear." The healer said, as he looked through his bottles and jars of herbs.

"Healer, what is that matter?" Mercedes asked, concerned that her friend was beyond treatment.

"When one's skin becomes pale, the only way to counter it is with Cannon Root, but I have no more and the trees from which it comes are located in the Minar Forest. But by the time that I go and retrieve the root, it will already be too late for her."

"Is there anything that you can do here for her?" Mercedes begged. Over the months that Orchid had been hanging around her, Mercedes had come to think of Orchid as a younger sister, since she had no siblings of her own.

"There is, but I will need you to go a collect the ingredients while I stay here to try and keep her awake until you get back."

"What must I do?" Quickly the Healer scrawled a list of herbs to get, telling her that she had to return with them before sunset, or else it would be too late for him to do anything for Orchid. With Onora's help, Mercedes managed to get the herbs which was quickly made into a potent brew that Orchid weakly drank.

"Now all we can do is wait." The healer told Mercedes who looked down to Orchid worriedly.

"I'll stay by her side and call for you should I need your assistance." She said. For hours, she paced next to Orchid's bed or sat n a chair next to it, thinking about what her life would be like if Orchid wasn't around her. It wouldn't be until late that evening that Orchid began to show a visual difference as the antidote took effect and the poison was cleared from her body. The next morning, Orchid found Mercedes laying on the side of her bed fast asleep, mumbling how she wanted her to 'please wake up'. To Orchid, Mercedes was much more than just her elder; Orchid loved Mercedes ever since she had laid eyes on her, but something like love between women of the elfin race was never allowed, nor had it ever been a problem.

But if the elders or the king ever found out that she had such feelings for a woman, she would be banished from the kingdom forever and would never be allowed to see her again. Time and time again she confided in her twin brother, Lotus, about what it was that she should do. But his answer would only say that all she could do was to try and bury her feelings for Mercedes. Orchid closed her eyes tightly, before looking to Mercedes and resting a hand on her head leaning down and kissing the top of her head. Orchid jumped slightly when Mercedes stirred from her slumber.

"Oh! I'm sorry Princess, I didn't mean to wake you." Orchid said softly, her hand brushing against Mercedes' for a moment.

"It's alright… Orchid! You're alright!" Mercedes exclaimed, putting her arms around Orchid and hugging her close.

"Oh thank the Great Spirit that you are alright." She said with a relieved sound in her voice. Orchid hugged her in return, but held back with a great deal of difficulty.

"Oh! Here, I bought this from one of the human villages not too far from Ellul. It's a small soft animal they call a 'Teddy Bear'. A lot of the human children seem to enjoy things like this, so I purchased one for you once you had recovered." Mercedes explained, pulling the stuffed toy from her bag and holding it out to Orchid. Happily she took it and hugged it close: it smelled of Mercedes, and it was something that Orchid told herself that she would never let go of, ever.

Once she was well enough to be released from the Healer's care, Orchid didn't follow Mercedes around quite as much, since she had the stuffed bear to quell her need to be around her. Sometimes she would sneak into Mercedes' room and spray her perfume on the bear. But all the same, it wasn't quite enough to subdue the feelings in her heart for Mercedes. Before either of them knew it, another year had passed. Mercedes slowly began learning the intricacies of Elfin Law while Orchid began learning magic so that in her own mind, she would be able to help Mercedes in any way that she could.

In the back of her mind, Orchid hoped that if she were to become powerful enough she would be recognized by Mercedes. That, she hoped, would see her feelings returned since a bold expression of her feelings could mean the end of it all. But as the months passed and Orchid as well as Lotus became more and more powerful, Mercedes seemed to still only see her as a younger sister.

"What will I do Lotus? I fear that everything that I've been doing has gone unnoticed by her. What can I do to _make_ her notice me?" Orchid asked after she had returned to their home after a particularly hard day of training that Mercedes had been watching.

"Remember Orchid, she is a princess, and as such isn't allowed the normal freedom of allowing herself to be swept away. On top of which, there has been no occurrence of such a love as this in the time that she has been alive." Lotus answered as he sat down: he and his sister were close, too close by some of the elf standards. Still, he could understand what it was that his sister was asking.

"The only other option that I can see is to outright tell her yourself." Orchid looked up at him with worried eyes.

"But if I do that I will no doubt be exiled from Ellul and then I will never be able to see her again!"

"Then tell her in privet where no prying eyes, elders, or even the King would hear you." Orchid swallowed hard and looked away with a terrified look in her eyes, thinking about what it was that Lotus had suggested. What would Mercedes do once the truth was told? Would she tell her father the king? Lotus sighed heavily and returned to the meal before him once again.

"I understand your fear. Whatever you want to do, I will support." he said with a huff, stuffing a forkful of food in his mouth.

* * *

Luminous walked calmly back into Serenity, trying to make sure that he at least appeared calm. Even though it had been a long while since he and Phantom had just about resorted to killing each other, his master Beuwon had requested him to come back since it was involving his Aurora.

"Ah Luminous, I am pleased to say that the Crystal Mine for this crystal has been successfully restarted. I trust that you managed to find out where the second of the crystals is being kept?" Beuwon asked hopefully. Luminous grunted agitatedly, smacking his forehead with his palm.

"No, unfortunately I did not. I was so amazed by the crystal itself that I completely forgot about asking." He replied, moving his hand down to the bridge of his nose. Beuwon laughed slightly and shook his head.

"I suspected as much." He answered, beckoning for Luminous to hand him his staff so that the master crystal could be set in place.

"Tell me something Luminous; how well do you know that girl Lania you brought here?" Beuwon asked while he worked.

"I should think quite well since we have been living together for nearly 18 years, why do you ask?" Luminous felt as if there were a deeper reasoning for Beuwon's questions, and was almost certain that he knew what he was getting at.

"How often do you think of Lucia?" he asked bluntly, stopping his work to turn and see Luminous's reaction.

"You're speaking of how Lania resembles her aren't you?" Luminous asked in a low voice, looking over to the side of the cave to see Lania sleeping on a small bed she had brought out from one of the bedrooms.

"Yes I am. But do you think in your current condition that you will be able to stay with her?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that her soul is quite unstable at the moment: I am now certain that she is the reincarnation of Lucia, and I fear that everything that Lucia knew and did is trying to be awakened by coming here. You must take her back to her house and never see her again until you have fully gained control of yourself."

"What does that mean? What aren't you telling me master?" Luminous asked, coming closer to Beuwon so as not to wake Lania.

"Lucia was not actually my daughter. She was an orphan I found at the entrance to Serenity many years before you were chosen as part of the Order. Her potential as a Mage of Light was similar to that of Lania: hopeless, but she tried anyway. I did manage to teach her some very basic spells and she was happy with that. However there was another reason that I allowed her to stay within the Order. I could sense a dangerous darkness deep within her soul, one that had not yet awakened and would remain dormant so long as she was exposed to those of us within the Order. I sense that same darkness in Lania and if you are to remain around her, I fear that darkness will awaken and there will be no saving her. There are no other mages of the Order anymore, and I do not have the capacity to be with her all the time." Beuwon explained, holding out Luminous' staff to him with the newly mounted crystal that gave him a slight shock when he took hold of it once again.

"So then what would you have me do master? Take her back to her house?"

"That would be the best solution." Luminous sighed, looking back to Lania and then reaching into the pocket of his pants and pulling out the small diamond ring that he had planned to propose to her with.

"I see; you truly love this girl." Beuwon commented.

"For so long, I've had my suspicions. Befriending her came so easily that it frightened me at first, almost like coming home. And having you tell me this only confirms what I thought." Luminous said mournfully, walking as silently as he could over to her and kneeling down next to the couch, watching her as she slept. In a way, she also reminded him of his younger sisters, Leanne and Aria when they were still alive.

Ereve, September 3rd, 1395

Luminous smiled as he watched over his younger sisters running through the flower fields as fast as they could. Aria chasing butterflies while Leanne was looking for flowers to complete her bouquet she had been working on for the past week. Emperor Casimir and Empress Michiko stood watching them from their bedroom balcony when Aria tripped, sprawling onto the ground at which Luminous quickly ran over to her.

"Sometimes I wonder whether Luminous would be happier being a Knight of Ereve rather than Prince. He is quite protective of his sisters." Michiko commented.

"That he is my love. But that is what any good brother would do for their younger sisters." Casimir answered, turning back to his desk and looking over the documents he had been given when there was a knock on his door.

"Yes, come." When the door opened, it revealed their Chief Knight Mikail with a somewhat downtrodden expression on his face.

"Mikail, what has your face to down trodden?" Michiko asked.

"There are some men here to speak with you mi Lord."

"I see; tell them I shall grant them an Audience in the morning. Today is Leanne's birthday, and so I won't be speaking with anyone today." Mikail swallowed hard before continuing.

"They say that they must speak with you immediately and will not leave until they have spoken with you." Casimir sighed, resting his chin on his thumbs and covering his nose with his fore fingers.

"Mi Lord, the guests will be arriving soon." Michiko pointed out, grasping Casimir's arm.

"I know my love. Mikail, please direct the guests through the side halls to the back while I speak with these gentlemen, the Empress shall over see the celebration in my absence until I can arrive." Casimir answered nodding to Michiko as he left, followed closely by Mikail as he went to inform the other chief knights of their new orders. Upon entering the throne garden, Casimir was greeted by five men dressed in white cloaks, holding staffs baring crystals mounted onto a sunburst on one end of the staff.

"Are you the men that my Chief Knight spoke of?" Casimir asked. He tried to make sure he didn't sound agitated, but was sure that despite his efforts there was a slight edge in his voice.

"We are they. We are the Mages from the Order of Light." The middle man answered, the five of them kneeling to the ground in greeting.

"Ah, yes I have heard many things about your Order, and I thank you for your deeds throughout Ossyria."

"It is our pleasure to serve Ossyria. However we come on a matter much more important; we have come for your son." Another man answered and they stood once again. Concern spread across Casimir's face.

"Prince Luminous? Has he done something?"

"No, he hasn't. But he has been chosen by the Spirit of Light to be the next of the Order."

"Chosen? I was informed that one can become part of the Order from their own volition?" Casimir asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"That is not true Mi Lord. All of the Mages within the Order are chosen by the Spirit of Light. Those that are chosen may refuse, but they will never be allowed to recant that decision."

"Then as the father of Luminous and Emperor of Ossyria, I must refuse his entrance to the Order. He is the crowned prince of Ossyria; would he be allowed to…"

"If he is to join or refuse the Order, it must be of his own decision. He will be allowed to visit you, but his duties as Prince must be renounced." Casimir swallowed hard, turning to one of the palace hands there to bring Luminous to him.

"Yes fa… Mi lord? You wished to speak with me?" Luminous asked as he came in.

"No, these men here are the ones that wish to speak with you." Once again, it was explained to Luminous what it was that was expected of him and what it would mean giving up.

"I see. Am I given any grace period to think on this?" Luminous asked.

"You are, but you must make your choice by sundown, at which time we will return." The mages said sternly, turning and walking away into the morning light. Luminous turned back around to see that his sisters were now on the back porch, greeting their guests with their mother as the filed in.

"What decision will you give them son?" Casimir asked. Luminous looked back at his father and only smiled.

"If I am chosen then I will go. However I wanted to be sure and be here for Leanne's birthday at least."

"Aria I'm sure will take it the hardest if you go, seeing as she seems to be the most attached to you." Casimir explained, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"That I'm am sure father. But if going with the The Order means that I will be better able to protect my sisters, then I will do whatever is required of me."

* * *

It took a while for Phantom to find the small shop that housed Christiane's contact. Once he had found it in the small port town of Lyth, Phantom tapped his palm to his head. How he could have ever missed the giant scroll atop the building that said 'Tru's Shop of Information'?

"Hello, is there any one here?" Phantom called after entering the small shop that smelled of paper and ink.

"Oh! Welcome to my shop, I'm sorry that I wasn't at the… you must be the Phantom that I've heard so much about lately!" Phantom smiled boyishly and was about to reply when the man continued.

"I'm sorry there's no time for small talk; there is an island called Rien not too far away from here that I saw a strange ship heading for. I'm sure that they were Black Wings."

"And why would that be of my concern? I thought you had something to tell me about the Seal of Victoria?"

"That's just it! The Seal has been moved to Rein and the Black Wings are heading there now! Who knows what will happen if they get their hands on it!" Phantom nodded his understanding.

"Right, so who is there that I can speak to regarding this?"

"Currently, Aran's wife Lilin should be there. I doubt she's there right now since the force that was going there looked pretty large; Rein might have been evacuated." Getting the coordinates from Tru, Phantom quickly went back to the Lumiere and pushed the ship as fast as he dared since there were still damaged engine parts that had yet to be fixed. An hour later, Renault called saying that the island was just below their keel.

"That's good captain! Hold this position until I call for you once again." Phantom called as he quickly dropped out of sight in the pod. Once on the ground, he quickly hit the button to pull it back up to the ship and found himself a hiding spot. From there he watched as large rabbit-like creatures dressed in black walked the streets, chirping and growling to each other as though giving commands. As one of them walked by, Phantom noticed the badge that was on its shirt when he saw the creature was sniffing the air and began turning to him.

"_Crap…_" Phantom thought, bursting from his hiding spot and reaching for one of the cards on his belt when he disappeared in a streak of blue to the ground. Just as he moved, a large shuriken whizzed through the bush where he once was.

"Oh, so you want a fight do you?" Phantom smirked, looking at the card that he had drawn, smiling as he hurled it forward. The rabbit that was before him shot back as a jet of flames burst from a large card. Another rabbit tried to attack him from behind but missed, falling into the hard punch of another, both of them being shoved away by the same card again. Drawing the thin sword from his cane, Phantom swung quickly across all three rabbit's bodies, holding the sword up to his face for a moment when all three of them fell over. No sooner had he dealt with them than he bent back to avoid being struck across the head by another rabbit.

When he stood back up, Phantom found himself being thrown back after being hit. Phantom adjusted his jaw for a moment then rushed the one that had attacked him, striking it time and time again over the head with the grip of his cane and it lay still on the ground. Before he was attacked again by the charging rabbits from behind him, Phantom drew another card, looking briefly at the picture before holding it up to above him.

"If your life means nothing to you than come!" Phantom growled, pushing mana into the card making it glow with a bright white light. The rabbits around him hesitated for a moment, but ultimately all attacked at once. Phantom chuckled to himself once the card had become fully charged, looking around at the foolish creatures that rushed to him.

"So be it: Carte de la Mort." The light coming from the card suddenly turned black, rising from it and taking the shape of a reaper holding its scythe as far back as it could. As if a strong wind had blown through the area, the reaper swung its weapon, holding it on the opposite side of his body with a small drop of blood hanging on the very tip of the blade. The rabbits each fell to the ground in lifeless piles before their bodies were reduced to nothing but ashes, blowing away in the breeze as their clothes went limp.

Slowly the reaper then hovered down before Phantom, holding out its bony hand to his chest making Phantom grit his teeth in pain as an orb of light melted out of his chest into the reaper's hand. With a nod, the reaper then disappeared back into the card and when the black light dissipated, Phantom dropped to one knee panting hard while wiping the sweat from his brow.

"_I forgot about that card's terms; a year of my life for each use._" he thought to himself, shivering now that he realized it was actually cold on the island. When he looked up, he saw on the outskirts of the town the head of a light blue haired woman peeking at him from around a large snow drift.

"_Oh, well hello._ You there, you wouldn't happen to know where I might be able to find Lilin would you?" Phantom called, getting to his feet and walking over to where the woman was, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm.

"I am she." Lilin replied, stepping from her hiding spot, looking at the scene that was behind him.

"Thank you for taking care them. They took the Island by surprise. While the villagers and I aren't any kind of stranger to battle, I would rather avoid one if I can." She said shyly.

"I see. From what I understand, they were after the Seal of Victoria were they not?"

"Yes, but it is safe; well hidden in fact. Wait! You're one of the Heroes aren't you?" Phantom sighed, agitated that he had been made to do to fighting for someone that possibly could have done it for themselves. But there were appearances to keep up and who knows, whatever she had to say might lead him to something else.

"Why yes Lady Lilin I am. My name is…"

"Phantom, yes. I've heard a lot about you. It's a shame that nobody of this era does." Lilin answered. Phantom was intrigued.

"Really? Then how come I have seen many halberd wielding young ones, using the same techniques used by Aran?"

"That's because he was the first of you to awaken. He passed away not too long ago from old age, but is succeeded by Lillianne, our daughter."

"I am very sorry to hear that. But what of your saying that no one knows of us?" Lilin motioned for him to follow as she walked back into the village towards a central building marked 'Library'.

"I saw it begin happening just after Aran had come back: slowly any knowledge of you Heroes was being erased from the libraries. The first to disappear were the reference books in the Master's headquarters. While they were never looked at, they were there. After that, the major libraries and book stores were beginning to be hit, and then historian's notes; anything having to do with you was being taken out of the picture. Before any of us knew it, the only ones that knew of your deeds were those of us that had managed to keep a partial record hidden away somewhere. Even the scrolls that I had protected all these years are mostly incomplete, and most of the knowledge they do have was that pertaining to Aran. Now that everyone's common interest is in power alone, no one thinks to find out where that power came from and how it is supposed to be used." Lilin said sadly, climbing the steps to the door.

"Are there still records of our deeds anywhere?" Phantom asked as Lilin searched for a key.

"I don't know Phantom. It's almost as there is someone trying to make you five disappear from history all together."

"I see. _This has to be part of some greater scheme that the Black Mage is trying to accomplish. Knowledge is power, and if people were to find out that he was defeated not once, but twice, then it would weaken the credibility of The Mage._" he thought to himself, when another thought struck him.

"_Wait, the recording from Minerva telling us about the world cannon said that there were six of us. Yet Lilin here says that we were only five. Is there something that I am missing?_ Tell me, in your studies of those scrolls, did it happen to mention if there was a sixth person among us?" Lilin stopped her searching of the key for a moment as she thought of all the texts she had read.

"No I can't say that I remember anything of the sort; it only mentions five. Is there something that I've missed?" she asked. Phantom held his chin for a moment, trying to assemble his thoughts, but shaking his head.

"No you haven't. Getting back to the matter at hand, The Black Wings no doubt know of the Seal's location; I'll take it aboard my ship for the moment and hide it amongst the treasures that I have acquired over the years." Lilin's face had a thoughtful look cross it as she began walking to a back room to retrieve the Seal. Phantom slyly walked around the room, looking for anything that may catch his attention, picking up a object here, looking over a book there. Most of what was in this library was worthless, at least compared to what he was used to stealing.

But even if there was something worth taking from this place, a voice in the back of his mind kept telling to leave everything he saw alone. Was that of Aria's Influence? He remembered that he had visited her the day before the emissary of The Mage was to come where he promised her that he would leave his life of theft to be with her. He tried so hard to make himself stop even when his peers begged for his help.

_"But it was all in vain in the end wasn't it?_" he asked himself when he heard Lilin coming back into the main room holding a small cloth wrapped object in her hands.

"I know what you were before you became one of the five heroes, but I'm going to trust you with this Seal. Keep it safe." She urged, holding out the cloth to him and reluctantly letting him take the weight. Phantom smiled in return, for a moment seeing Aria standing before him unwrapping the Seal. It was a silver square shaped plate with a pulsing red maple leaf in the center of a emerald helm's wheel.

"That I will Lilin." He promised, stepping out of the building into the cold once more, pulling the cloth around the Seal again. But just as he was about to reach for the calling transmitter of his pod, a shadow streaked past him snatching the Seal out of his hands. In a flash Phantom held up his hand, his forearm glowing a bright blue which rocketed down his arm and to his feet where blue wings sprouted on his heels. Coupled with his own unusually high speed, Phantom closed the distance quickly. In a blur he reached up to his forearm, pulled the card out and slapped another into it depicting a person holding a green flame arrow and bow at arm's length. He held his cane out, drawing his hand across the cane as a green flaming bow appeared from it.

"Drop the rock or I skewer you!" Phantom demanded, drawing the bow further back when the man turned around, saluted him and disappeared in the same breath with the Seal in hand. Phantom let the arrow go, watching as is slammed into a tree, the fire torching the bark into nothing but charcoal. Dropping to his knees, Phantom turned his head to the sky and screamed as loud as he could, the echo able to be heard from the Lumiere high above.

Ariant, 2 years after joining Raven

Phantom had been slowly making a name for himself within the thieves' community: he had slipped into the palace many a time and stolen thousands of coin worth of treasure, even had been brought along on Raven's jobs. But time and again when he thought that he had gotten something of great value, Raven would always show him another treasure that was many times more valuable then what he had stolen.

"You'd think after 3 years you would have learned something with all the tricks I've 'allowed' you to see." Raven scolded. Phantom could only swallow, holding onto the promise made to him for killing him, and it's what drove him to constantly strive for bigger and better treasures. With each attempt that he made, he would become bolder, flashier, even announcing that he was going to steal something on some occasions. Phantom had even been given Raven's left eye through a painful spell to see hidden treasures or traps.

But most of the time, he would often be meeting Raven on a dark road after being released from the royal prison when an unnamed person paid for his bail. On one such occasion, Phantom had just been caught with the royal crown in his hand after taking it from the Queen's head, and was just about to clear the threshold of the Palace's wall only to be met with an army of soldiers.

"I don't understand! What did I do wrong?!" Phantom kept asking as he walked back with Raven to their hideout through the back alleys of Ariant.

"You got too comfortable Phantom: You left the rope you used to get over the wall hanging down. It was only a matter of time after you made that mistake that you would be caught." Raven answered.

"No I didn't, I pulled the rope up and carried it with me the entire… You bastard! You were the one that put the rope there weren't you!" Phantom shouted, grabbing Raven by his collar and pinning him against the wall. Normally Raven would have already sent him tumbling down the road with a back hand, but this time Raven did nothing. Phantom watched him closely for a moment, noticing that Raven was wincing in pain and when he looked down he saw that Raven's jacket at his stomach was covered in blood.

"Raven! What happened?!"

"This is nothing; just give me a couple days back at the house and I'll be good as new. Some thread, a few drinks of whisky and I'll be patched up." Raven countered; pushing Phantom out of the way stumbling down the road for a bit before falling to the ground as something metal hit the ground.

"RAVEN!" Phantom called; this man may have killed his parents when a robbery had gone wrong, and Phantom may have a pact with Raven about killing him once he could out steal him. However in a strange way, Phantom respected him.

"Heh, looks like this is a bit more than I'll be able to shake off this time." Raven grunted rolling into an upright position and looking Phantom in the eyes, readjusting the patch over his left eye.

"No! No you can't die here! Not like this! I still have to kill you! You can't die until then!" Phantom shouted grabbing Raven's shirt once again and shaking him around like a rag doll.

"Then what are you waiting for? I've taught you all I can, and you've out stolen me many times, so why wait?" Raven asked weakly.

"No! Get up! You're not gonna die like this! Not after all I've done to out steal you! I didn't work all that time just to have it end like this!" Phantom growled through his grit teeth.

"Don't get all worked up. If you do… you'll… lose fooooocuuuuuus…" Raven finally let out his last breath, slumping over slightly on the wall where he had sat up.

"Raven? Come on, this isn't funny! Wake up!" But when Raven didn't move, Phantom slumped to his knees, reaching out his hand for the first thing that he could find and suddenly standing to his feet as fast as he could, pummeling Raven in the head over and over again as Phantom cried from frustration. It felt like hours to him until he finally ran out of energy and slumped to the ground once more with the object in his hands, throwing it to the side.

He had to get out of here: no doubt someone had heard him and had called the guards, but he couldn't leave Raven like this, could he? The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, making Phantom see a glint of something shining in Raven's vest pocket. When he removed it, it was a single card that resembled a tarot card with finely printed gold leaf designs. In the center was a blank white picture in the center, and across the top of the card was an ornate calligraphic title: Carte Blanc.

Phantom had seen Raven pull this card out a few times before, but never understood what it really was. He was about to search Raven's body for instructions on how to use the thing when he heard the guards coming and decided to run. As he was move though, he tripped on whatever it was that Raven had been holding. Looking back, he saw that it was a black steel, jewel topped cane. He could hear the soldiers coming and so grabbed the cane and bolted into the night.

"_Mother, Father; the man who killed you is dead, but it was not by my hand. I will take what Raven of Ariant has taught me, and I will become the greatest thief in all of Ossyria. And once I have obtained all the treasures of this world, I will create a place where nothing will ever be stolen from anyone again._" he thought as he ran. Presently he heard someone hammering metal in the distance. Following the sound, he found that it was a gentleman just a few years older than he pounding away at a sheet of metal that looked to be in the shape of a crescent moon.

"_Raven had his mark, but mine shall be that of the Crescent moon, just like this man is making here_." he thought, gathering composure and wiping his eyes as he began approaching him.

"You there, what are you working on?" Phantom asked, taking his now dazzling feathered, bird-masque fez from his head. At the sound of his voice, the man jumped and smiled.

"Why I'm working on the finest ship in all of Ossyria. I still haven't named her yet, but one day I'll get her flying and come up with a good name. I'll show you." the man said, leading Phantom through gorges of scrap metal to an area where the skeleton of an elegantly shaped air ship was sitting.

"I still need an engine and quite a few other things, but I'm sure that I can get it going." The man said, putting his hand on his hips proudly. Phantom walked over to the ship and admired the craftsmanship that went into every rivet, nearly drooling over the elegant yet bold edges of the ship.

"Lumiere."

"I beg pardon?" the man asked.

"Lumiere sounds like a fitting name for her, don't you think?" Phantom answered, turning back to the man as he pondered.

"Yes, yes it does. Lumiere; genius simply genius. Tell me young man, what is your name?"

"Phantom."

"Ah, so you're the infamous Phantom I've heard so much about sneaking into the palace. My name is Renault. I'm not exactly a shipwright, but I'll make this the finest ship in the air." Renault said proudly, staring long and hard at the shell, no doubt looking at it as though it were already finished.

"I would like to have this ship once it's done." Phantom commented.

"I'm sorry, but this ship isn't for sale." Renault quickly said.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be a part of the crew I'm going to put together."

"Crew? You're putting together a crew? I haven't even been able to put the outer hull on it yet and you're already going to recruit a crew?" Renault asked in astonishment, but was met only by Phantom's boyish grim.

"Renault, how would _you_ like to join me, the Greatest Thief in all of Ossyria, Phantom, as my captain?"

* * *

Light began gathering in the center of Ellul, pushing out a wave of air as the four of them appeared from the light. Quickly Mercedes ran to find the elders who were busy doing all they could to pull poison from the bodies of those who had consumed the water.

"Will this help? I happen to have a bit of Antidote with me." Patricia asked which was gratefully accepted by the elders.

"Who was the first of them to succumb to the poison?" Mercedes asked, helping the aged Astilda to her feet after sitting next to one of the younger ones that had been poisoned.

"His name is Shael, and right now is near the central tree waiting for his strength to return." Mercedes nodded, motioning for the Guardians to follow her when Danika ran to Mercedes and stopped her.

"You brought humans to Ellul? You of all people should know what the Great Spirit's scroll says about such things." She scolded when Mercedes put a hand to her shoulder.

"I do Elder Danika, However, at my current level of power I do not trust myself able to handle this on my own." Danika was still not satisfied with her answer and tried to argue the point further.

"Then why not ask some of us that haven't been poisoned?"

"I wish I could, but you and the other elders are needed her in Ellul to extract the poison from those that did the drink the water. Have no fear elder; these humans will not be of any danger to us." Mercedes assured. Danika took a breath and shook her head before going back and helping with the others, still somewhat agitated about that Mercedes had brought humans to Ellul. As fast as they could, Mercedes talked with Shael, finding that he had noticed a difference in the water's color coming from further up the main stream.

Mercedes led the Guardians along the stream that ran through the center of the village back to the mountain from which it came. Just as they were about to round the corner where the fountainhead was, Mercedes backed up and stopped the rest of them hiding behind a bush.

"Mercedes, what's the matter?" Latimer hissed, reaching for the large rifle-like crossbow on his back.

"There are a band of Black Wings at the fountainhead. If we move silently, we should be able to take them by surprise." Mercedes whispered, reaching for her guns when the sound of someone coming closer could be heard, their steps crunching over the leaves.

"Who's there?" a voice commanded. Mercedes held up her hand, holding up three fingers and counting down, springing from her hiding spot and hitting the first enemy she came to in the head knocking him to the ground. But when she ran up to take on the rest that were at the fountainhead, she was surrounded by Black Wings soldiers and mages. She held out her guns at arm's length to each of the mages that had readied an attack spell, turning to and fro in panic.

"My my, what a treat this is." A male voice said, making Mercedes look to the fountainhead where the man was sitting, pouring in the last of a small bottle into the water bubbling from the rocks.

"Magnus!" The man smirked haughtily, turning his eyes to her before hurling the bottle away, breaking it against the rocks.

"I see, so you _do_ remember me; I'm touched. Whatever happened to that 'dragon' mage, what was his name? Fraud?" Magnus prodded. Mercedes grit her teeth, realizing that she was standing there surrounded all by herself: what had happened to the others? Weren't they going to help her at all?

"The name is Freud! Why are you poisoning our water? What have we ever done to you?! Didn't you abandon the Black Wings just before his defeat?"

"I was never a part of their little therapy sessions Mercedes: they were simply a stepping stone to my greater purpose in life. As for why I poisoned your water that is simple enough: to kill you. Your sharp wit and deductions are and always have been a pain in the side of the Black Wings. My orders were simple, destroy you by any means; your power may trickle into those of Ellul, but your power also is affected by how many of your people are alive."

"You bastard! You're just as bad as the Black Mage!" Mercedes shouted, taking aim and firing a powerful stream of black and green arrows at him. However Magnus only laughed, drawing his giant azure sword and cutting through her arrows as though they were nothing.

"Feisty as always. Kill her." Magnus commanded when his wings began tingling. He turned just as Patricia came down on top of him with her wand, swinging so hard that the ground where she hit instead burst into a spray of rocks and light. Just as he was regaining his footing, the girl rushed at him, swinging her glowing mace at him again, this time blocked by his sword. Patricia kept coming at him as hard as she could, pushing him further and further back towards a small cliff that would likely allow her the winning blow.

"What are you fools standing there for?! ELIMINATE THE ELF!" Magnus thundered, stopping Patricia's attacks. With a hard shove he began to overpower her, turning his battle around and pushing her back towards the cliff face. The soldiers around Mercedes lowered their weapons at her, but each one that attacked would be pushed away when an arrow would hit them in one of their limbs. No matter how many times she shot to push them away, their wounds would heal over and they would be coming back at her as hard as ever.

"_No, I can't kill them. They still have a chance to…_" but with each shot that she fired, it was only becoming more and more obvious that the only way she was going to stop them for good, was to kill. With a growl she knocked one of them hard on the head, turning and firing an arrow at another that was charging from behind. She turned to face a third opponent, firing a arrow through his chest then holding both guns forward and blowing a hole through two more.

When she turned again, her gun was aimed directly at the soldier's head and the fear in his eyes at that moment made her hesitate: what was she doing?! She was supposed to be preserving life not ending it! But her moment of hesitation allowed the man to step back slightly and drive his spear forward. Mercedes was too lost in her own trance to react, when Vondra dropped in front of her, crossing her daggers and redirecting the spear away just enough that the head grazed her arm.

"Wake up would you!" Vondra shouted, throwing the spear to the side. She then jumped onto the soldier's shoulders and flipped backwards, throwing the man into the air where he was met with unseen slashes. Latimer dropped in behind Mercedes reaching for a small ball on his belt, tossing it into the air and grabbing Mercedes out of the area. The ball clanked and hissed as mechanical pieces slammed together until they created a four barrel turret. When Latimer aimed at the area where they had been a moment before, the turret first rained down a hailstorm of arrows. A few seconds passed and then the arrows exploded, eradicating the soldiers that were around them. Vondra jumped into the air, folding her hands as Ninja with firebombs in their hands appeared around her, dropping to the ground making the area around Vondra become a smoldering pit of destruction.

"So many lives…" Mercedes mumbled when Vondra hauled her to her feet.

"This is war Mercedes! You should know that better than anyone! If the Black Wings didn't give up 18 years ago in trying to kill us all, then there is no hope for them, this is the fate they have chosen!" Vondra shouted when the pain filled sound of Patricia's voice echoed over the tree.

"Patty!" Latimer shouted, running in the direction that he could hear the clanging of weapons. She was still battling ferociously with Magnus, but he could tell that even she was growing tired, especially since the glow of mana around her battle wand was slowly growing dimmer.

"Is that the extent of your power human?" Magnus asked; he too seemed winded, but with what Latimer had learned from reading the Archives in Ludibrum, Magnus was a Nova. They were known for being a hybrid race of extraordinary fighters capable of battling for days on end, so this was nothing to him.

"You don't know what kind of power that I can summon." Patricia panted; some of her clothes had been torn as well as several cuts and scrapes on her face, arms and torso.

"I see, well I've become board with you. So now you can die like the good little girl that you were supposed to do, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED!" Magnus shouted, his blade becoming engulfed with flames as he rushed at her. Latimer reached for his crossbow, but something snagged and it wouldn't let him pull it forward. Patricia reached deep down for strength, but even that had been used long ago in fighting this beast making her fall forward.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a voice shouted as a loud droning hum exploded in the distance, cutting a line of dust in front of Magnus through the ground. Magnus opened his wings, pulling himself back and away from the line when something big landed behind him. He only had enough time to turn around and pull up his sword, blocking the large metal hand that swatted him away like a fly. Before Magnus had time to correct, the loud droning noise came again, brass and lead sparkling in the sun from the large flames that flowered at the end of the arm mounted chain guns.

Bullets tore though some of the flesh on Magnus' wings before he could finally right himself and begin to dodge or block the projectiles. When the droning finally stopped, he looked down where the large beast was, only to see it flying up to him, clamp both hands together transformed into a rocket propelled hammer, and slam him underground. The dust blew away to reveal Dumia's mecha slowly landing on the ground and beginning the stand-by sequence as she unbuckled herself and ran to Patricia.

"Patty! You ok?" She asked. Patricia nodded, trying to stand when she collapsed into Dumia's arms. Mercedes and Vondra came running to them, and for a moment Mercedes stopped, watching Dumia holding Patricia in her arms. Dumia picked up Patricia and walked back to the mech, setting her in the seat and activating the remote control on her arm.

"We need to get her into a town somewhere fast. She's lost a lot of energy and I think one of her arms is broken." Dumia called.

"Ellul isn't far from here; I can have our healer look at her wounds." Mercedes called, turning and beginning to lead her back to town.

"Are you sure Your majesty? I couldn't help but over hear the conversation you had back there before coming here." Latimer asked more concerned about Patricia's condition rather than wanting to hear what it was that she wo0uld have to say. Mercedes shook her head, ignoring him and leading them back to Ellul as Latimer jumped up into the mech, doing what he could to stabilize Patricia. As Dumia walked behind Mercedes, she couldn't help but look back at Latimer as he kept his focused eyes on his task. She never really thought about it, but Latimer was quite a good looking guy, even if women were a bit of a problem for him.

As they walked though, she couldn't help but feel an ever so slight hint of jealousy: Why didn't guys faun over her like they did Patty or her sister Vondra? And more to the point, would a guy like Latimer ever consider trying to peruse a girl like her? Maybe she should take her Mom's advice and try being a little more of a girl if she wanted to catch someone's eye. Lost in her thoughts, Dumia hadn't noticed the silence that had fallen with Mercedes deep in thought with memories begin coming back to her.

"_I remember this path, it's the very path that Orchid brought me down all those years ago…_"

Ellul, 1300, 17 years later

Orchid tried to express her feelings to Mercedes: giving her lavish gifts, dedicating her magic proficiency tests to her, even leaving her favorite flowers, Golden Wind Roses, in her room with a note saying they were from her 'sister'. But no matter how much she tried, it never seemed she was getting the response that she wanted. Now to add to that, Mercedes was going to be crowned queen in a just a few weeks, and that would mean Orchid would have almost no time to spend with her, so whatever she was going to do she needed to do it soon. A few times she had tried to set up the moment, but no matter what she did it would always be interrupted by something. Finally she asked if Mercedes could accompany her to a field near the fountainhead to help her pick out some herbs she had just learned about.

"So what kind of herb are you looking for?" Mercedes asked, already looking around at the various plants that covered the ground around them.

"I'm not looking for herbs Mercedes. There is something that I wish to speak to you in private about and I am always interrupted."

"Then what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?" Mercedes asked with a slight edge in her voice. She had responsibilities to attend to back at the palace. Orchid 's heart raced, her mouth felt dry and her palms became sweaty as thoughts raced through her mind about what she was going to say that would make Mercedes understand what she felt.

"Orchid, I can't stay for very long, so if you aren't going to…" She was surprised when Orchid ran at her, nearly knocking her to the ground with the force that she hugged her with.

"Mercedes, I love you. I have for a very long time, ever since I first laid eyes on you." Mercedes was shocked, thinking about all the gifts that she had been given by Orchid and now it all made sense.

"Orchid, I…"

"This is the first time I've ever felt this way, about anyone." Orchid cried, hugging her tighter and laying her head on Mercedes chest, listening to her heartbeat. Mercedes on the other hand was still quite shocked, not sure what it was that she was supposed to do. She herself had never to this point found herself attracted to anyone; she was too busy with royal duties and her mind was constantly on her people. What answer could she give Orchid? She knew that what her first answer would break her heart in two, but what other answer was there? Pulling her back slightly, Mercedes took a slow breath before beginning.

"Orchid, I'm flattered by your feelings; however I have to say that I don't feel the same. Yes I do love you as a sister, but that's as far as I have ever felt." Orchid's face fought off breaking down into tears, putting on a smile that would only give way to a quivering bottom lip. Mercedes was about to say something to try and console her when Orchid took her by surprise again, grabbing Mercedes' shirt and firmly kissed her. To keep her from getting away, she put her arms around her for a long time until Mercedes shoved her away.

"What in the name of the Great Spirit are you doing?!"

"Mercedes! I can't think of my life without you! Please, tell me that you love me too."

"Orchid…"

"TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME!" Orchid screamed, holding her hands to her side as magic flames flared in each one.

"Orchid, calm down, you don't want to get in a fight with me."

"What is it? Why can't you return my feelings?! Is it because I'm not powerful enough?! Not royalty?! Not old enough?!" Orchid screamed, hurling a fireball at Mercedes with each question she shouted. Mercedes easily avoided each fireball since she was trained in battle tactics. But the fire balls that exploded at her feet were powerful, much more powerful than any others mage that come before.

"Orchid! Calm yourself!"

"TELL ME YOU LOVE ME! TEEEEELLLL MEEEEEE!" She shouted over and over again, slamming a fire ball into the ground that scorched a large area around her, making Mercedes jump as high as she could to avoid the wall of flames come at her.

"_I have to end this before this gets out of hand_" Mercedes reached to her belt, grabbing her newly acquired weapons given to her by the Great Spirit, Dual Bow guns. When she placed her hand on the handle, an orb on the back of the weapon flared to life, making an arrow appear in the crossbow.

Taking aim she pulled the trigger, shooting arrows of light through Orchid's legs, hands and shoulders, bringing her to the ground and stopping the attacks. Orchid moaned and screamed through her teeth on the ashes of her last attack, unable to move from the pain screaming through her body as Mercedes landed.

"WHY?! WHY MERCEDES?!" She screamed as Mercedes stood over her before passing out.

"I'm sorry Orchid, but the love that you want from me, just isn't possible. I won't speak of this to the elders and will allow you to stay here in Ellul, but I can't return your feelings." Mercedes whispered, brushing Orchid's chocolate hair out of her face before picking her up and waking back into Ellul. The healer asked what had happened, but Mercedes only said that she and Orchid had been in a battle and that Orchid had been injured like this. Two weeks later, Mercedes was crowned Queen and went to the healer to visit Orchid. But when she entered the healer was laying face first on the ground and the bed that Orchid had been in was empty.

"Healer! What happened?" Mercedes asked, shaking him awake as he brushed the blood away from his head.

"Lotus… Lotus came in, asking where Orchid was, and when I turned around to lead him to her, I was struck over the head. I only woke up when you when you came here." For the next few hours, Mercedes ordered a search for Lotus and Orchid, but it was in vain, leading them nowhere.

"_Orchid, where have you gone?_"

* * *

Orca looked over the old teddy bear in the crook of her arm, brushing off some of the dirt that had gathered on its face.

"After all these years, maybe now I can return to you and show you the power that I have acquired. Maybe then you'll love me." Orca mumbled when a hazy image appeared next to her.

"Orca, are still obsessed with her?" Orca quickly turned around, hugging the bear to her.

"Suu; I can't help it. Creating the Black Wings was to impress her, but I'm not sure if that would be the case."

"Orca, forget her. She tossed your feeling aside like it was nothing. Why do you persist?" Suu asked, almost agitated.

"I love her, isn't that enough?" Suu huffed, turning his back to her and beginning to disappear.

"If you were truly one of the Black Wings, you wouldn't need to entertain such feelings such as love." Hes scoffedbefore disappearing all together.

"_Your words Suu, not mine. Besides, without the Black Wings, you would be dead and not in a suspended animation tank._" Orca thought, once again hugging the teddy bear close to her.

* * *

Luminous had been quiet the entire trip back to Lania's house: what was he going to tell her? That he no longer wanted to be around her? That he was corrupting her just by being around her? His thoughts were interrupted when Lania laced her fingers into his, patting his shoulder as they walked.

"What has your mind is such turmoil Luminous?" she asked sweetly. Taking a breath as they neared the house, Luminous straightened out his thoughts and stopped her on the front porch.

"Listen, I thought that I would be able to handle gaining control of this darkness, but I'm worried that there are things I won't be able to control. Getting the Master Crystal in my staff has amplified my power, but that amplification has made it harder to keep my head."

"Luminous, I know all that."

"And that is why I'm bringing you back here. Yes, I am glad for your presence, but having you close to me scares me. Please, stay here until I have regained control over all my power." Lania hung her head, making her eyes get the look in them that Luminous found nearly irresistible.

"What's really bugging you? You've been quiet this whole time."

"I'm always quiet."

"Not _this_ quiet. What's really going on?" Luminous sighed, rolling his head around and adjusting his neck before answering.

"It's like I said, please, just stay here until I'm able to get my powers under control." Lania made the look in her eyes come back, but Luminous looked away, putting a hand on her head.

"Please…" he asked, the sound of tears hanging in his voice. Lania sighed, smiling sadly as she nodded, putting her arms around him and listening to his heart for what she felt could be the last time in a very long time.

"Alright; but you better come back to me." She said as Luminous chuckled, kissed her head and began walking away; he didn't want to see that lonely look in her eyes as he left.

Ereve, later that day

Luminous enjoyed the entire day as much as he could with his sisters, making sure that they had the best time of their lives since he knew that he wouldn't be seeing them as much after today. He played games, ate cake, even danced with his sisters, but his heart was heavy as he constantly checked the sun's position. When at last the party was over and everyone had gone home, the Order once again came to the Palace where Luminous went out to meet them.

"Have you decided?"

"Yes, but I'm not doing it for you."

"Your opinion of that may change with time. Now come, the day grows short and we must return to the Order before it becomes dark."

"Luminous! Where are you going?" Aria asked, running to him and wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she could.

"You're not going to take my big brother away from me!" she shouted, looking up at one of the mages.

"Aria, please. This is my choice; I'm going to be able to become more powerful to protect you better."

"No! You promised me that you'd be here always!" Leanne chimed in, wrapping her arms around Luminous leg and not letting go.

"Luminous, Make these children stop."

"They are my sisters, I think they are entitled to some resistance." Luminous answered.

"And we are of the Order, if you do not remove them from you, then I shall!" one of the mages answered, quickly walking over to Luminous where he grabbed Aria by the back of her dress and was about to reach for Leanne when Luminous struck him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Don't you _EVER_ touch either one of my sisters like that again! Or Minerva help me, I will tear you limb from limb." Luminous roared, turning to his sisters and kneeling down to their level.

"I was chosen by the Spirit of Light. I know you two know about it right?" sadly the two of them nodded.

"These people are here to take me to be trained so that I can protect you better. I may not be staying here at the palace with you, but I assure you that I will see you." Aria and Leanne remained silent as Luminous gave them both a hug, telling them to stand with their mother and father as he turned to leave with the Order's mages.

"You offer them too much affection Luminous; if you are to be a mage of the Order, you must distance yourself from said emotions, otherwise your new found power will be unstable."

"Your opinion may change with time." Luminous answered, making the mage only look at him with discontent. Just as they were about to cross the front gate, Aria's voice could be heard as well her footsteps running as fast as she could to them. When Luminous turned to see her, he was almost toppled over when Aria slammed into him, hugging him tightly one last time.

"You better come back to me!" she said before running back to the house. Luminous smiled as she left, turning back to the mages of the Order, leaving with them knowing in his heart that he would see them again.

"_I will Aria, I will_"

* * *

Clytemnestra sighed contentedly, breathing in the fumes of her latest creations of potions to help her body prepare for the power of the tree. A plume of black smoke erupted behind her, revealing Tecon kneeling on the ground with the Seal in his hand.

"I trust that you were successful." Clytemnestra asked as she turned to him and held out her hand for the elegant badge.

"That I was." he answered, standing up and placing the Seal in her hand.

"Very well done. Magnus on the other hand was embarrassed by mere children." She growled, looking over at him as he leaned against the wall with a smug look on his face.

"What's the big deal? The Elves don't have any more readily available drinking water." Clytemnestra held out her hand as Magnus moved in a blur to the side, letting the spell ricochet off the wall, turning the stone behind him into rubble.

"Nice try your majesty, but you're going to have to be faster than that."

"Your mission was to kill Mercedes; how hard could that be for a seasoned Nova to eliminate a single underpowered queen of elves?" Clytenestra seethed. Magnus simply looked away, avoiding her question altogether.

"The next assignment that I give you will be completed as asked, or it is you that shall suffer. Do I make myself clear?" Clytemnestra asked, appearing before him and pressing the tips of her fingers into his throat for added emphasis. Magnus only looked her in the eyes with distaste and hate burning within them until she pulled her hand away and went back to her dark Alchemy.

"_Mark my words human. It will only be a matter of time before even you will be overpowered. And it will be I that is laughing at your grave._"


	10. Chapter 9: Scores of Spores

Chapter 9: Scores of Spores

"How can I be assured that what you are telling me is true?" Augustine bellowed, his large belly jiggling as he put emphasis on different words. Clytemnestra smoothly walked across his office, adjusting the golden cross medal on his lapel; a small mushroom shaped imprint in the center.

"Whether or not you trust what I tell you is entirely up to you. We made a deal if you remember that once I presented you the means to take this kingdom for your own, you would provide me with the Seal of Ossyria." The man huffed and walked around to the back of his desk, slumping down into its chair.

"Yes, but I am still not satisfied with knowing whether or not the pesky Guardians of Ossyria have been dealt with. If I am to take this kingdom, I must have assurance they won't be a problem that until I am able to transfer the crown to myself." Clytemnestra chuckled and smiled mysteriously, sitting across his desk, provocatively crossing one leg over the other, speaking with a seductive, whispering moan in her voice.

"Augustine, need I remind you that I am not a patient person. I will have what I want; the question you need to ask yourself is if you want to give the Seal to me and live to rule, or do you want me to be more blunt and pull it from your dead hands?" She asked. Augustine looked down to the glowing blue sliver of crystal that had been placed in his small staff, payment for the Seal she sought. It gave him a feeling of power. When he looked back up, he stumbled a bit when he was met with such an enticing sight. Regaining himself he reached into the desk and pulled out something wrapped in burlap.

"I suppose you are right; here is the Seal as promised. But I must know, are The Guardians of Ossyria still here?" he asked as Clytemnestra wrapped her fingers around it and took it from him. Carefully she spread the rough fabric to make sure that the Seal was indeed within it, her eyes widening for a moment she saw the golden square shaped plate. Once she was sure, she simply wrapped the Seal again and smiled darkly at Augustine. Strange whispers surrounded the two of them for a moment, fading away once she had disappeared in a cloud of black aura. No sooner had she left than a knock came on the secret door behind the bookshelf, revealing a royally dressed penguin waddling in to the front of Augustine's desk.

"So, have you gotten the means to overthrow King Mushi?" he asked with a humming, nasal voice.

"That I have Pepé. But I still have my doubts about the promise she made to me concerning 'The Guardians' being within Ossyria. You might want to take extra precautions. Bring more soldiers, I'll find a way to disrupt the creatures around the Kingdom."

"There has to be a way that we can find the Seals faster." Dumia whined, sitting down roughly on the ground next to the others after helping to build a makeshift camp.

"I'm sorry to say Dumia, but there isn't. We can only trust Evan and Mir as best we can to find them." Latimer answered when a strong huff came from Mercedes who stood behind him.

"You still think that this Evan is the reincarnation of Freud, don't you? He is _NOTHING_ like him. For one he would never allow his heart to be stolen by the very dragon that he partnered with." Mercedes retorted sharply, shaking her head and about to walk off when Luminous walked into their circle.

"Luminous, I haven't seen you in a couple days: where've you been?" Dumia asked, shrinking back slightly when he looked at her darkly, his right eye glowing under the hair over it.

"I've been making sure that Lania is safe, placing barrier anchors around her house. It's not something that can just be thrown together at the last minute if you want it to last." He answered, turning away sadly.

"Is that all? Or are you just trying to make her into Lucia?" Mercedes asked flatly while Luminous stared back at her.

"I just want her to be safe." Luminous finally answered, taking a seat when someone came walking in their midst, stopping cold from the tension in the air.

"Yes? What is it?" Patricia asked, sliding her wand though the back of her belt as though it were a short sword, wincing slightly as her arm moved; even though a high level Priest had healed her broken arm there was still some lingering aches.

"I've come with a message for the 'Guadians of Ossyria'?" the man said as Patricia walked over to him.

"Who is it from?" she asked.

"He didn't say, only that he needed to give it to the Guardians of Ossyria." Patricia looked back to the others, at which Latimer gave a small nod, walking closer to her.

"We are the Guardians of Ossyria. One of us isn't here right now, but we are the ones that you have been looking for." The man sighed in relief, telling them that a man dressed in a vest, cream afgan pants and a mushroom shaped hat had come running up to the guards standing outside the gate.

"He said that he had been running for three days to get this message here from King Mushi of the Mushroom Empire."

"The Mushroom Empire? What's that?" I've never heard of it." Vondra exclaimed.

"It's a small kingdom that was created while Minerva was still alive and has been existing out of sight to everyone on the outskirts of Henesys. Their main exports to Ossyria, unsurprisingly, were fine Gourmet Mushrooms." Mercedes answered as Patricia pulled the seal off the letter when Acer walked in, setting he heavy cannon down with a thud.

"What's this I hear about a kingdom in trouble?" He asked with enthusiasm.

"I'm just opening the scroll now." Patricia answered as Acer took a seat, waiting in child-like anticipation while she looked over the letter.

"Well?" Acer asked.

"It says here that the King of the Penguins Pepé has invaded, and has quite successfully taken over the Mushroom Castle. He's going to force the Princess to marry Pepe's oldest son to 'finalize' an apparent alliance that was made to the Penguins. It goes on to say that the soldiers fighting against Pepé's forces witnessed a strange blue power that would shoot down at them from time to time out of nowhere. It also says that King Mushi states no such alliance was promised to the Penguins and that it seems as though someone else is in control. He urges us to come as soon as possible."

"Well then, what are we standing around here for? We've got a kingdom to save!" Acer said proudly, hoisting the gun onto his back.

"How many reloads do you have for that thing?" Dumia asked, standing and pulling on her gloves.

"Just one." Acer answered confidently.

"One? Acer, we're going up against Minerva knows how many enemies and you're only bringing one reload? I'm loading an extra belt in each of my mech's arms, and you're only going to bring one reload?"

"It's not like I'll be completely helpless. I still have the cloak Jack gave me, which I still need to figure out how to use, and the mana shots that I've been working on. Besides, I can't carry more than that: the things are heavy!" Dumia pushed out her bottom jaw, breathing in a hard breath before pointing to him.

"I swear Acer, if you get in the way, you'll find out just how many bullets one Mech can hold. I'll be ready in five." Dumia huffed, walking away from the area making Acer laugh.

"Sometimes that chick doesn't know when to take a joke does she?" he laughed, shifting the weight on his shoulder. Vondra only laughed and shook her head, crossing her arms under her chest.

"No she doesn't. You guys can come to since it would prove advantageous to you." Vondra said pointing to Mercedes, checking the cutting edges of her daggers.

"Very well." She huffed, motioning for Luminous to do the same.

"What about Phantom? We could use his help for something like this." Latimer pointed out.

"He's made his choice; if he comes back, it will be because he wants to, not because we asked him." Mercedes answered flatly.

"I'm afraid I'll be staying here as well. The Priest that I've been seeing to heal my arm hasn't been able to fully heal it yet. Your healer in Ellul did take the pain away at least, but my arm is going to need a bit more time." Patricia said, holding up her arm in a crude cast made of a partially torn dress. Latimer almost seemed a bit disappointed and was about to say something when Dumia's mech roared to life and he decided to say something else.

"Alright; we'll be back as soon as we can." Latimer called, following after the others heading for the outskirts of Henesys, following Mercedes and Luminous as they knew where it was supposed to be. Patricia pondered what it must have been like for the real Guardians when they were assigned their first mission: how did they feel? Was there a knot in the bottom of their stomachs too like there was in her's right now? Were the others feeling the same thing? Looking down at her wrist, she watched the light dance across the gem of power Helen had given her as well as the black cloak she had around her shoulders.

"I only hope we're going to do the right thing like you guys did." She said to the wind, watching Latimer until he was far out of sight. Her attention was then drawn to a young boy, no more than three or four who had become lost and was crying, curled up in a corner near where she was standing. It reminded her of the story Olsen had told about when he and Jenny first met as kids. She smiled as she walked over to him, calming him and taking his hand to find his parents.

Starling pushed her way through the brush on the outskirts of Leafre as quickly as she could, leading her to the small hut where she had taken care of Yoshumari after the battle with the Black Mage. Despite her best efforts, there were scars dealt to him that even she wouldn't be able to heal. She finally found him sitting on a rock, looking down at Eleanor's headstone just outside the hut, staring at a rose he held up before him.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here." Yoshumari chuckled, sliding off the rock and tenderly setting the rose on top of a bouquet resting in front of the stone, then plucking one of his feathers and setting it down on top of the roses.

"Yoshumari, I know that you loved her, but don't you think after 18 years you should move on?" Starling asked; there had been times she said that same thing over and over again through the 18 years past, but it felt like he never did.

"I know I should, but there are still parts of me that can't." He answered, putting a hand to the scar on his chest from the Mage's attack that had nearly killed him.

"What about the people that love you who are watching you tear yourself apart?" Starling asked as Yoshumari stood and turned around.

"You told me once that I had better return to you. But I don't think I can, not when one is as broken as I." he smiled, until Starling ran to him and put her arms around him, hugging him close.

"Then I'll come to you. I can't watch you tear yourself apart anymore."

"Star, I've chosen a path that I must walk alone. Only when the Black Mage has paid in full for what he has done…"

"I told you to come back to me and I meant it! I didn't mean it as something to do when you felt like it. I thought that by giving you time to deal with your wounds that you would come back to me, but you haven't! I told you before that after I met you, I realized that I didn't have to be alone anymore; you taught me that. It was a painful few months not having you there while you were undercover, and it hurt knowing that you had fallen in love with one of the Black Wings when I was right there!" Starling cried, loosening her grip and looking up into his eyes.

"But I stayed, waiting, hoping that you would come back to me, and in a way you did. But I can't stand it any longer! You still can't let her go, and I'm tired of being alone! It hurts…" she wailed, putting her forehead to his chest. Yoshumari swallowed hard as what Starling said struck him hard over and over again: had he become such a traitor as to toss aside a woman that he had loved before for another? Had she really been waiting for him all this time? With eerie silence he put his arms around her then wrapped his wings around them.

"It hurts, Dragon. It hurts to be alone..."

"I'm sorry for making you wait so long Star." He whispered, sliding a hand up her back to the top of her head.

"I thought I could handle it again, but I can't, not any more. Please, don't ever leave me again; even if you must get revenge for her death, please let me come with you. Don't leave me behind anymore." She begged, gripping the lapel of his coat as hard as she could while tears dropped onto the leather.

"I promise Starling, I won't leave you behind, not now, not ever." Yoshumari answered kissing the top of her head, looking back to Eleanor's grave with saddened eyes over Starling's head.

"_I promise Eleanor, I WILL make sure that The Mage pays for what he's done to you._" he thought, walking back to camp with Starling under his arm. As they walked away, Yoshumari thought that for a brief moment he felt Eleanor's hand brush against the back of his neck and a whisper in his ear.

"_Thank you, Dragon._" It said. Quickly Yoshumari turned around to see who was there, but there was no one, making him smile as he looked down to the ground.

"Yoshumari? What's wrong?" Starling asked, stilling holding his hand as he turned back around and began walking away once again, still with the saddened smile on his face.

"It's nothing Star." He answered, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her gently as they walked, coming over a hill able to clearly see all of Ossyria from their vantage point. His attention was then peaked as he looked in the direction of Ereve, feeling a slight rise in power emanating from it.

"_She has another one._" Yoshumari thought to himself, unaware that Starling heard him mutter the same sentence aloud.

All of the Advance masters had seen the barrier descend over all of Ossyria effectively cutting them off from the rest of the world with a strange colored sky hanging high above them. No sooner had the spell completed itself then Grendal was already researching as much as he could. After a few days of non-stop searching, both Athena and Dances with Balrog both came to see him.

"Have you found anything old friend?" Dances asked, pulling the hood from his head. Grendal looked up from his tome and slowly shook his head.

"This is the work of Dream Fragments, parts to a larger spell. From what I was able to find, it tells of how these fragments work, but to disarm them requires something much more than we currently have at our disposal." He said sadly, closing a book and sitting back in his grand chair.

"What of Gregory and May? Are they alright? The last that I had heard of them, they were in Florina."

"I have tried contacting them, but have had no success. I can only assume that they were caught outside the area affected by the Dream Fragments." He replied. It appeared there was something more he wanted to say, but it was of a grim nature. Athena lowered her brow and nodded, her thoughts turning to Eckhart as she turned and left. Her thoughts lead her to one of many balconies of the mansion and over looked the endless miles of pure white within El Nath.

"I heard what was being said: you're thinking of Eckhart again aren't you?" Kyrin asked, leaning against the railing beside Athena and crossing her arms. Athena sadly nodded and looked down to the ring still on her hand, turning it this way and that as the light reflected off the diamond.

"It just kills me to not know whether or not _my _Eckhart is still out there." Athena answered.

"Why don't you ask Grendal to activate a search spell?" Kyrin asked, pulling her weight from the rail and turning to face Athena.

"Because I'm afraid of what could be; that the ones who took his place have…" But Athena stopped her sentence not wanting to continue. Kyrin smirked and put her arm around her and lead her back into Grendal just as he was finishing up reading through a rather thick tome.

"Grendal, can you please search for Eckhart. I need to know if he is still alive." Athena asked meekly. Grendal slid the book back onto the shelf and turned back to her.

"Athena, you should be prepared for the fact…"

"Don't say it!" Athena countered. Grendal nodded and held out his palm where a compass-like devise sat, mana flowing into its crude circuitry as the needle began to spin.

"I was going to say Athena that he could be outside the barrier, so it is a very likely fact that this spell won't…" The compass jingled, catching Grendal's attention as the needle wobbled for a moment then pointed true directly towards the Minar Forest. Athena's breath caught in her throat as she dared hope.

"Is he…"

"He's alive and well. Take this, and it will guide you to him." Grendal said holding out the compass.

"But what if…"

"Athena, go. In fact, I think all of us should go. With the world in the state it is, I doubt there will be those strong enough to make the journey here. At this point the people of Ossyria could use all the help they can get." Athena rushed into her room, packing what it was that she would need, grabbing her bow and a quiver, waiting for the others to gether what they could and then beginning traveling to where the compass was leading her.

"_Eckhart, please wait for me."_

_Again and again there was a cold, sharp pain that would plunge under his skin: his fins began to feel strange as did his body which began to curl into an upside down "L" shape. There was still one last thing that he hadn't tried which would allow him to escape, the only problem was it that he could usually swim away after he had done it. But right now, he was nowhere near a body of water. It was worth a shot though if it meant that he could get away from these dreaded humans. Concentrating, he began tensing his abdominal muscles opposite each other: within him a power began to build, causing his whole body to itch. _

_The humans dressed in white began running everywhere all around him, trying and do something about his power. No matter what they did they couldn't do anything about it and began running away: exactly what he wanted. Electricity began to flow freely from his body, overloading some of the equipment around him and even making holes in the ground where it struck, when that same black cloaked man put a hand on him and instantly made all the power he had created disappear. He looked up at the man_ when Firebolt suddenly lifted his head from the pillow and gasped hard, looking around at where he was, suddenly realizing that he was in the camp set up by the Silent Crusade outside of Edelstein. He hadn't been sleeping well during the night and when he did, it was only for short bursts before he would be frightened awake by one of the many nightmares that plagued him, so he would often sleep during the day when he had the chance.

"Hawkeye? What's wrong?" Monsoon asked with a soothing tone. She had been watching him toss and turn in his sleep as tiny threads of his lightning would feel over his body.

"It was another dream." He said, slowly calming his fearful breathing.

"Were you still seeing the same thing?"

"No, this time was different. This time, I felt as though I was this predatory fish. Some of my body was beginning to change, but I was trying to use an electric attack to escape. I almost had when that same black cloaked figure put his hand on me and stopped it all."

"And that's when you woke up just now isn't it?" Monsoon asked, setting her bow down and sitting next to him. Firebolt nodded cradling his head in his hand and closing his eyes, suddenly falling asleep and resting his head in Monsoon's lap, seeming to be peacefully sleeping for the first time in ages when Holocaust and Shadow walked back into the camp, at which Monsoon put her finger to her lips telling them to be quiet.

"Is he still having those nightmares?" Shadow asked, which was answered by Monsoon's nod. Holocaust knelt down next to him, placing her hand over his forehead when Firebolt's body seemed to relax fully.

"Brilliance told me that Yoshumari did this once to Black Phoenix, what exactly did you do?" Holocaust stood up once again, the glow from her staff making the shadows on her face become deeper, aging her far more than she looked.

"It's a spell that originated from an ability of the Seraphim that I learned while spending some time with Helen before the fall of Ereve. It calms one's mind so that they can sleep without having the thoughts of the day interrupt them." She replied, turning her attention to the vast ocean that was before her were one could usually see the coast of Ossyria, only now it was replaced by a thick cloud of fog and endless waves of water.

"I wonder how they are doing in there?" Holocaust asked quietly.

The six of them finally made their way through the outskirts of what was left of Henesys, sneaking past the guards that constantly patrolled the area, sometimes even having to run from them.

"What are they? The power they produce is unlike anything I've seen." Mercedes exclaimed, finally able to clip her bows to his belt.

"It feels as though their power stems from Black Magic." Luminous answered.

"I recognize them: they're the Empress's chief knights. Without the influence of Black Magic they were powerful, but I doubt those are the actual knights, their personality wouldn't allow for it." Latimer answered, as Dumia watched her HUD for enemies.

"I think we lost 'em for a while." Dumia sighed, retracting the machine guns in her mech's arms and turning to the others, pulling back the cockpit canopy.

"So now where do we go?" Vondra asked, as Luminous and Mercedes seemed as though they were searching for something, holding their hands out like searching for something in the dark.

"I said before that the Mushroom Empire was in a place out of the way, when in fact it's actually in a pocket dimension similar to that of what we are in right now." Mercedes explained when Luminous' hand touched something and a rift appeared in mid air distorting everything that was behind it like a ripple in a pond, settling into nothing not long after.

"Am I going to even be able to fit this thing through that?" Dumia asked, pointing to herself.

"This rift is actually just a barrier; anyone of us can pass through it and it is infinitely high. The trouble is finding it." Mercedes answered when something sounded as if it were flying in from behind them. Luminous chuckled and began speaking before turning around.

"I didn't expect you to come Yosh…" He was surprised when instead of seeing Yoshumari flying grandly in, he saw Dureau landing ominously behind them.

"I remember being in search of this place for the longest time under the leadership of the Black Mage and I never could find it." He said smoothly, not moving when Acer hauled the cannon over his shoulder and pointed it into his face, charging the kickback thrusters.

"And what are you doing here now? Are you still searching for it?" Acer asked with a sneer. Dureau pulled his smile to the side, grabbing the end of the barrel lifting Acer with the gun off the ground, setting him to the side.

"No, however I did happen by the quaint little camp you set up, and happened to hear that you left a while ago to help someone in need. The man I had spoken with was generous enough to tell me where it was that you were heading."

"How do we know that you aren't going to turn us over to the Black Wings once you've left us?" Vondra asked with a sneer, only to be met with a fierce and deadly stare from Dureau.

"The Black Wings betrayed me and I have no intentions of helping them. From what the man told me, it appears as though some kind of arrangement went on between Clytemnestra and someone of this kingdom. If that is indeed the case then I want in. It will be a pleasure to make whatever plans she made burn in hell." He growled, his Agies surrounding him making a few strands of his hair float in the upward draft. Dumia activated one of the miniguns in her mech's arm and pointed it at Dureau, spinning it up in preparation to fire.

"You better not betray us." She growled, opening the vents for the jet punch.

"I will disrupt the plans of the Black Wings. If you get in my way, that's your fault." Dureau answered as he looked up at her from under his eyebrows, walking around her and through the barrier quietly.

"He's truly a demon." Luminous answered, motioning for the others to follow him through the barrier, finding a path that led them to a small encampment surrounded by a few guards all dressed in cream afgan pants, blue vests and mushroom shaped hats. Just as they were about to enter, a heavy set man stepped before them, holding a spear to them ready to attack along with a few guards.

"Who are you and how did you find this Kingdom? I've never seen you here before, and frankly, I don't care. Just turn around and leave this place at once." The man said in a gruff voice.

"We came here at the request of King Mushi, he had sent a letter to us." Latimer explained as the man pushed the spear further into their faces, trying to intimidate them to walk back.

"If you are indeed here to help us then you can help my soldiers with the wave of enemies that is pummeling us right now." The man pointed his spear to a side where a line of soldiers were battling a swarm of something that looked like mushrooms with tiny legs.

"With pleasure." Luminous answered, the crystal in his staff glowing as he ran towards the line, followed closely by the others jumping in front of the solders and quickly wiping out the onslaught in just a few seconds. The soldiers that had been fighting for the past two hours finally collapsed from exhaustion while Luminous and Mercedes did what they could using a simple healing spell and handing out small thimble sized bottles of Orange Peel potions to help recover their energy quicker. The man that had stopped them earlier eyed Luminous, watching as the crystal in his staff slowly began to dim after the battle.

"_That is the same kind of glow my soldiers say came from the battlefield." _the man thought, waving a hand telling the soldiers around him to stand down and return to their post. He then walked to the first person that he felt he could trust, Dumia, and set his spear down, kneeling with some effort to one knee.

"Please forgive me for my earlier conduct; I am Kelly, Head of Security. The safety of the king is my top priority, so I have to be suspicious of everyone that I see. I'm still very suspicious of you, but I was the one to make sure the messenger was sent off safely." Kelly scanned over them, looking intently at their faces, when he came across Dureau and became infuriated.

"What is he doing here?! Are you still searching for this kingdom and used them as your pawns?!" Kelly shouted, lowering his spear to his chest. Dureau chuckled haughtily pushing the spear away with the back of his hand.

"I'm surprised you still remember that. But, no I'm no longer associated with the entity that you knew me for. I could care less about what you held anymore."

"And how do I know that you won't go running back to them as soon as you leave here?" Kelly asked strongly.

"If I had the power I would eradicate them myself." Dureau answered, locking stares with Kelly making an odd and long silence follow.

"You five, come with me to speak with the king. But you demon slayer, you will remain until we return. As will you mage." Kelly said sternly pointing to Luminous. He jerked his head back in surprise with a puzzled look on his face.

"How have I been of any offence to you?"

"The power that you wield is the same kind that killed a hundred of my men in the blink of an eye. I will not let it near the King." Kelly answered shortly, pointing to the crystal in his staff before turning and leading the others away with him to speak with the king about their dilemma.

"The same power? It seems as though someone has managed to get a grip on one of your crystals." Dureau laughed darkly while he leaned against a nearly vertical bank of earth.

"An Aurora crystal? If that is indeed the case then whoever has it is grossly misusing its power." Luminous answered him, setting his staff upright and looking over the master crystal that had been set into it.

"Is it a gross misuse? Or are you simply envious that another that has more than likely never heard of the Order of Light is able to draw such power from it?" Dureau smiled, resting his hand on the mace hanging from his belt.

"The Aurora crystals were never meant to be a _source _of power, only a point of focus to enhance one's magic. But I must ask, what did Kelly mean by asking if you were still searching for this place?" Dureau looked up at his from under his brow, making a small smile curl the corner of his mouth, the mark on his face glowing.

"While I was still under the command of the Black Wings, one of my many missions for him was to search for this place and ascertain the means by which it was able to by-pass the normal flow of time. Unfortunately I was never able to find this place thanks to your Order. How is your master Beuwon these days?" Luminous' body tensed his entire body, grabbing Dureau's shirt hard.

"How do you know of Beuwon's condition?"

"I was the one that killed him. It was such a pity since I was expecting so much more from the leader of the Order." Luminous anger boiled, gripping Duerau's shirt harder and harder making the fabric begin to tear.

"Then I am sorry to say that you failed; Beuwon is still alive thanks to the power for the other mages. However he can no longer leave the Order." Dureau shook his head, pulling Luminous' hand from his shirt and pushing him back.

"I see. I'm sorry that that I failed then. But you can rest easy knowing that I won't be coming after your precious master. Their death was only an unfortunate circumstance to my mission of finding this place; one of many contingency plans made by the Black Mage."

"Such as?" Luminous asked darkly, his right eye glowing with a low light as his hair began to darken.

"One of the many plans he had made was that of your precious Lucia." Luminous straightened his posture and tightened the grip around his staff.

"You didn't really think that the 'daughter' of your master was really his?" Dureau asked with a chuckle. The blood ran cold through Luminous body as he slowly began putting things together, realizing what Beuwon meant when he said he wanted him to watch over Lucia.

"You already knew, didn't you; but you only knew that she had darkness within her and that you would keep it under control. The daughter of the Black Mage was in your presence and it was given to you as a charge to protect her. She was the eyes and ears for the Mage himself to find out what was going on with the Order; he was banished from the order and for that, he wanted to destroy the Order…"

"No…"

"She was to be his tool for destroying the Order from the inside out."

"No…"

"But he was not able to complete that mission because of you. Your light and companionship with her restricted the Mage's movements and wasn't able to use her. In addition, she isn't the only tool that The Mage has created for his use. Lania is also his tool." Luminous looked to him with worried but angry eyes, realizing what Beuwon had meant by trying to get Lania away from the Order and away from Luminous: the darkness that existed within him was making the darkness within Lania stronger. The only way that he was going to be able to defeat that darkness was to control it and make it his own. He was about to ask a question of Dureau when his thought was interrupted as Vondra began speaking.

"So, the king it seems is rather old and not in the best of health at the moment, and so…" her briefing was cut short when she looked at Dureau and Luminous, watching how tense looks were being passed between them.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked.

"No, please continue." Dureau answered shortly. Vondra sighed uncomfortably but pushed on.

"King Mushi told us that King of the Penguins, Pepe, has taken the kingdom by force and is going to force the King's daughter Violetta to marry King Pepe's son to force an alliance with Pepe of the El Nath penguin tribe. The wedding is to take place in just a few hours and we have to stop it at all costs." Luminous and Dureau nodded in agreement as Dumia walked up in her mech.

"According to what Mushi told us, there are a little over 6 hours before the wedding is to happen." She called, activating the chainguns in her arms.

"Let's do this!" she called, walking with heavy steps to the edge of the camp where Latimer moved his hands through a few motions, summoning his faithful Panther to his side. All too eagerly, the soldiers guarding the perimeter let them through to the thickets outside, pushing through the underbrush and over the somewhat hidden path leading to the castle. However along their path were hundreds of the walking mushrooms as well as some large, blue capped mushrooms that shimmered from what appeared to be a thick sap. Dumia stopped and looked down on her radar at the bottom of her HUD, noticing that the entire thing was flashing red.

"Dumia, what the matter?" Latimer called, suddenly feeling that his panther Blaze had become tense, growling at something that lay ahead.

"I don't know. From what the HUD is telling me, we're right in front of a massive enemy, but I can't see anything." Dumia responded. Mercedes stepped forward and purposefully walked forward when she found that she wasn't going anywhere. To the others, it looked as though she were walking in place.

"Mercedes, it's a barrier, there is no getting passed it." Luminous explained. Mercedes looked back to him and shook her head, reaching for her bowguns and taking aim at the air before her. Pulling the trigger, her bows erupted into a blaze of green and black streaks of light, ricocheting off the barrier and into the ground, trees, mushrooms, even whizzing past those that stood behind her.

"Mercedes!" Dureau commanded, grabbing her wrist and aiming her arm to the ground roughly.

"Do you intend to get us all killed?!" he thundered, looking to the area of air that wavered before them.

"It's better than standing around here trying to figure out what we're going to do!" Mercedes thundered back.

"While we do need to get passed this barrier, I don't think force is the way to go. Perhaps we should go back and tell them about this." Acer suggested.

"It took us 2 hours to get here. By the time we get back to the camp, tell them of the problem, find a way to break this and return it will be too late to stop the wedding." Mercedes argued when Acer tilted his head, noticing something.

"What is it?"

"Look, The mushrooms… they can walk right through it without any problem."

Augustine laughed as they tried to get through, listening to their dull conversation until something they said caught his attention. He growled low in his throat, noticing that indeed the walking mushrooms could pass through the barrier unhindered.

"A foresight that I did not account for." he mumbled to himself.

"Hmm Augustine, the hmm wedding preparations are nearly complete. I trust that nothing is the matter?" Pepe asked as he walked up behind him.

"No, no nothing of the sort. Go on to the chamber and I shall be there shortly to pronounce the proceedings." Augustine urged Pepe, turning back to the ground and the people standing outside _his_ castle when he noticed a bracelet around three of their wrists.

"So, they may not be the famous 'Guardians' I have heard so much about, but it appears that they do wield their power. Such power as this must be dealt with quickly, otherwise it could ruin my plans." He reached into his jacket and pulled his scepter from the pocket, holding it up high in the air.

"Go, destroy them." he said softly as a blue light flashed from the gem mounted in it.

Luminous felt a chill run down his back, turning this way and that trying to ascertain the origin of the power, recognizing it as an Aurora crystal's enhancing ability. But that was the least of his worries when he felt a wave of power slowly wash over them.

"We need to run." Luminous commanded, walking in the direction back towards the camp.

"Why? What's here?" Vondra asked, drawing her daggers and standing at the ready when something felt wrong.

"We just need to…" Luminous command was cut short when the ground began to tremble. They all turned around and around, each of them with their weapons at the ready back to back for what would come. From the trees around them, the blue capped mushrooms began to grow, pulling from the ground and jumping for movement. Dureau was the first to attack, leaning into his run and streaking passed a small group of them while his right arm became a flash of black aura, throwing the mushrooms back and tearing through some of their flesh. But before they got very far, he held his hand forward where a bright light appeared before him, sucking everything in front of him to the light and obliterating it. Stillness fell over them for a bit as Dureau turned his palm to himself and examined the burnt flesh that still sizzled, turning back to them showing them his palm.

"Don't touch them." was all he said before holding his mace with both hands while power curled around it. Vondra crossed her arms which swelled slightly as she pushed a small amount of mana into them. With a smooth sweep of her arms she drove her daggers into the ground, making an explosion of chains erupt from the ground around her and throw the mushrooms into the air, slicing through their bodies with ease. Mercedes took a wide stance as small glowing vines wrapped around her feet and legs, making her Soul Arrows glow brighter with a small breeze. The breeze curled around her arms before she took aim, firing off arrows that sounded as though they were made of flames, tearing through mushrooms great and small.

Luminous spun his staff over his shoulders before thrusting it forward. A large card made of pure light appeared behind him, and from it, serrated spears of light shot down, slicing through each of the mushrooms. However, he and Mercedes were beginning to be surrounded on all sides since their power couldn't effectively repel them at the moment.

"Stay away!" he shouted with a growl, an orb of light surrounding him and Mercedes before pushing back every mushroom with a wave of light.

"I don't have time for this!" Luminous growled, his right eye glowing brightly and turning his hair jet black.

"My darkness will consume you!" the top of his staff became a blaze of dark violet light as a giant orb formed in front of him, threads of lightning striking the ground around it as he swept his arm around them, guiding the orb, obliterating everything in its path. Dumia looked down at her HUD, noticing that it was flashing red again after torching and smashing a few mushrooms of her own. When she turned around she saw the orb hovering over their enemies, burning them all to a crisp. But Luminous' face had a sick, pleasure filled expression on it as though he were laughing as it moved. Mercedes was unaware of the orbs path as she was busy with her own enemies, unable to feel the hair raising power behind her.

"MERCEDES! LOOK OUT!" she called, stepping in to snatch her out of the oncoming orb's path, but even with her speed she wouldn't make it in time. Latimer turned his attention to the orb, using his arrows to try and fight it off but his actions only seemed to make the orb bigger. By the time Mercedes turned around to see what it was that was coming for her, it was already too late and the orb would no doubt kill her if not seriously injure her, possibly making her unable to fight ever again. Luminous realized what it was that he was doing and hauled his hand back in the other direction to get it away from her. It was too little too late since the orb had gained a significant amount of speed and was taking too long to re-direct.

Vondra leaned as far forward as she dared, nearly falling over as she tried to run for her but even her speed wasn't going to make it in time. Acer had already used his shot, blasting mushrooms away, but the shot that he was going to try would still take too long to charge. The orb crashed through the ground were Mercedes had been standing a moment before, finally dissipating leaving them all in stunned silence staring at the charred ground. Luminous dropped to his knees and dropped his staff: what had he done? He thought that he was beginning to understand the darkness that was within him, but he was oh so wrong.

"You humans really are useless." A strong voice said, making them all look up to see Dureau hovering above them all with Mercedes in his arms, gliding down to the ground.

"But, how did you…" Vondra stuttered when Dureau set Mercedes down and walked over to Luminous, hauling him to his feet and striking him across the face hard putting him down on the ground once more.

"Be sure and keep your power under control mage. I would be inclined in slaying you right now. Fortunately for you, your blood is not something that would allow me to defeat the Black Wings any faster." Dureau growled, shifting his wings to a more comfortable position before helping Luminous to his feet and handing him his staff.

"The enemy is gone, and time is not on our side. Let's go." He said, walking over to one of the disintegrating bodies, grabbing some of the bubbling spores. He winced as the spores began to eat away at his skin until he held them up and pressed them to the barrier which allowed him through. The others looked at each other and quickly picked up some more of the spores, pressing them to the barrier and allowing them through, revealing a castle entangled with vines sporting thorns and spines that were razor sharp, even blocking the castle's main gate barring them from entering.

"Well now what?" Latimer asked, trying to find a way to situate his hand among the thorns so that he could get a good grip without hurting himself.

"Climb on me, I'll climb the vines." Dumia offered, kneeling her mecha down low enough so that Vondra, Latimer, Acer, Mercedes and Luminous could climb aboard her shoulders. Dureau on the other hand refused, bending down and raising his wings before shooting up and over the wall.

"Show off." Acer mumbled as Dumia climbed up the vines. Once there, Dumia let the others off and immediately prompted her stealth protocol; strong cushions of air began to blow from the bottom of the Mecha's feet making her steps become nearly silent. She then slid back the top of her cockpit looking around the entire area strewn with penguin bodies and blood.

"Dureau, what did you…"

"Are we here to stop a wedding or worry about what gets in our way? We have less than four hours; and any one of them that gets in the way is just that, in the way." Dureau said, shaking the blood from his mace and was about to walk away when Acer stopped him.

"I want to be absolutely clear on this. Yes, there are those that are in the way, but killing them on sight is not what we were asked to come here and do."

"Would you rather I asked them nicely to step aside while I stop their plans?" Dureau asked in return shrugging off Acer's hand walking further into the castle making the others only shake their head. Quietly they snuck through the castle, expecting there to be a mob of penguin soldiers rushing them at any moment, but all they ever found were traces that they had been there: sporadically spaced dented helmets, a few drops of blood and broken spears. Acer suddenly pulled the cannon to his shoulder, mana flooding the firing chamber making it glow a bright blue.

"What the matter?" Vondra asked, when she bumped into Dureau.

"Can't you hear it?" he asked when Dumia focused on her HUD, turning this way and that.

"Guys, we've got a bogie on the fringes of my radar. The sucker's movin' fast so I can't get a good read on it." she said, still looking around as the dot on her radar flashed in and out of her range until they all began to here spurts of maniacal giggles or laughter, Latimer recognizing it.

"I know that laugh."

"Who is it?" Dumia asked, quickly turning to try and focus on the dot in her radar.

"It's a woman by the name of Klyde; Dad told me about her in a few of his stories." Latimer surmised, looking through the entire castle, especially in the spots one might over look.

"What do you know about her?" Vondra asked, drawing her daggers and standing at the ready.

"That she could make any one of us fourth degree's look like a beginner and laugh about it while she slits our throat."

"My my, so Olsen still remembers me does he?" a voice suddenly said from the air, the sound of a blade being drawn across a stone ringing in the air.

"I'm touched. Heh, playing with them was fun, but will you be just as fun?" the voice asked when Dumia finally got a lock on her position, turning around and holding up her arm, spinning up the gun.

"Oh now is that anyway to greet someone who's an old friend of your parents, Dumia?" she asked, casually leaning against a tower in the wall.

"What do you want?" Dumia asked as Klyde picked her weight up and walked over to Dumia, patting the giant metal fist aimed at her before walking to the others.

"I heard that this place was in need of some help so I decided to come along. Not much has been happening since Ereve flattened Henesys, and I was board." She giggled, putting a hand up the mouth of the plush mask she wore.

"Then where are all the soldiers that were supposed to be here?" Mercedes asked.

"Soldiers? What soldiers? Oh, you mean those cute little plush toys; yeah, they weren't playing nice so I took care of them for you."

"So why not do the work for us and stop the wedding?" Dureau asked with a tone of melancholy.

"Come come now, I may be a twin blade Ninja, but it's been over 18 years since I played with your parents. I'm not as quick or as limber as I used to be." Klyde giggled thumbing the edge of her dagger for a moment before sauntering over to Latimer, walking her fingers up his chest, pressing her athletic body to him.

"My my, you're a cute one. I never would have guessed that someone like you would be out here." She said with an alluring tone. Vondra drew one of her daggers, swinging it down hard where Klyde was but hitting nothing but air.

"Aw, come now Vondra, I was only having a little fun. Oh well, I've taken care of the majority of the guards for you, so I think I should at least get a thanks. Oh! And by the way…" Klyde put one of her hands over the mouth of the stuffed mascot head she wore and giggle, suddenly making Dumia begin a systems check.

"Roses are red, Violets are blue, confetti gets spread, and so… are… you." she said, making a motion as though blowing a kiss when a small bomb went off in their midst, spreading them out everywhere. When they were all finally able to get to their feet again, Klyde was nowhere to be seen but her laughter was still able to be heard as it faded from the area.

"Crazy bat." Vondra mumbled to herself.

"Klyde may be crazy but she gave us an opening. Let's not waste it by standing here." Acer suggested, pulling the heavy cannon onto his back and helping Latimer to his feet as they all proceeded further into the castle. Even with the help that Klyde had given them, they were still weary around every corner for soldiers, never knowing exactly how many Klyde had taken care of.

It had been something that she had wanted for a while, but with the limited access and knowledge of the Mushroom Empire, there was really no way for her to get into it and retrieve the coveted Seal of Ossyria. With this one that she had relieved Augustine of, she now had three seals in her possession. However that still left the ones hidden by the High Guard of Edelstien, which at the time she had no way to get to without deactivating the Dream Fragments.

"Relishing in your small victory?" a voice asked making her look over to the window sill where Yoshumari stood, adjusting his wings as he stepped down.

"One would think that you actually like me with the way that you've been visiting me so much." Clytemnestra laughed. Yoshumari smirked and laughed as well, but kept a wide girth as he walked further into the room, eyeing the giant metal apparatus behind her.

"Don't flatter yourself." He said with a grin, his face becoming serious in the same moment.

"I will be sure and visit you every time that you gain another seal to remind you of your eminent failure."

"Again with the threats Dragon? You really need to learn to follow through one day." Clytemnestra smiled until Yoshumari rushed her, pinning her to the wall as the power of his Dark Nalcana flared down his arms and around neck and shoulders, causing her to lose focus and let that annoying second presence begin to take over.

"You're afraid of _her_ aren't you? She's really the one that has the power, and all you can do is make sure that she stays asleep long enough to let you have control."

"What is it to you? She's just a puppet…" Yoshumari put his foot on the apparatus, pulling her away from it with a hard grunt.

"_She_ will make sure that you fail." Yoshumari growled when his face suddenly became softer, looking deep into her eyes to the one who's body it really was.

"Just hang in there a bit longer. The nightmare won't last forever. I have faith in you." he soothed before letting Clytemnestra go where the apparatus hovered to her and put a few of its arms around her as she breathed deeply.

"I am growing tired of your pompous attitude!" she growled as whispers filled the air around them, swinging her arm hard as a blast of dark magic hurled at Yoshumari, deflected into the wall when he activated his Nalcana once again as a large sword. For a tense few minutes, the two of them stared each other in the eyes, not moving or even seeming to breathe. At last Yoshumari broke the stare and grinned, shaking his head before walking to the balcony railing.

"Again, you leave this place without so much as _trying_ to stop me. If that is your true intention, then why not take something that will slow me down." Clytemnestra asked.

"Because that would be too easy. I want you to suffer for what you've done, and you will. You will suffer greatly, but only when the time is right." Yoshumari growled over his shoulder, flying away and leaving Clytemnestra to her thoughts. Was she scared of _her_? What could _she_ do if she didn't keep her mental guard up? But that was another issue entirely; all there was to worry about right this moment was collecting the Seals of Ossyria. Once she was sure that all the ones still hidden in Ossyria were gone, she could undo what the Dream Fragments had done and easily retrieve the remaining Seals from Edelstein with the aid of the Chaos Beasts.

"I will not fail this time, Dragon. You underestimate me far too much."

It didn't take them extremely long to get inside the main portion of the castle, but when they did it became increasingly apparent that this is where most of the guards were stationed as they would sometimes fight off small patrols of soldiers, while at the same time trying to make sure that Dureau didn't unnecessarily kill anyone during those encounters.

"You'd think that an event like this would have more guards." Acer mentioned, pulling the cannon from his back, priming it.

"Klyde did take care of most of them for us remember." Vondra answered, making Acer roll his eyes and shake his head.

"Can we please focus?" Luminous hissed as he peeked around the wall they hid behind save for Dumia who had opted to take another way because her mecha was too big. As he leaned his head out slowly, he managed to see a few guards standing around a room in the hallway.

"What do you see?" Vondra asked, suddenly catching the back end of Acer's cannon before it hit the ground.

"There are a few guards standing outside a door… wait…" from the door, a heavy set man walked out of the room as a something shorter walked out of another room further down the hall and joined him while Luminous did the best he could to hear what was being said between the two of them.

"…princess should be more than willing."

"Hmmm good. I wouldn't want anything ruining our moments alone, heh, eh heh heh, heh heh heh." The shorter creature laughed. But Luminous' focus was drawn away from the two of them when he saw a sparkle from the staff in the heavyset man's hand.

"_An Aurora crystal?!_" Luminous thought to himself when the two of them disappeared behind a door.

"What was it?" Latimer asked, pushing back Blaze a bit who vied for some attention.

"A heavy set man and a shorter one dressed in what looked to be a blue tuxedo was walking for a moment. The heavy one has one of the Master Crystals, so he might be the one that's been using it. The other one I wasn't too sure about."

"It has to be Pepe. The fat one could just be one of his generals." Mercedes hypothesized.

"No, that's too easy." Acer countered, holding his chin as he sat in deep in thought.

"How do you figure?" Vondra asked, kneeling down to his level and set her blades on the ground.

"Well, remember how hard the soldiers back at the camp were fighting to keep the spores out of the camp? If they fought that hard against mushrooms, how hard do you think they would have fought to keep their kingdom safe? From what the king had told us, it was all at once and there was nothing that they could have done to prevent it when Pepe took over. So there had to be someone on the inside, someone who knew the inner workings of the kingdom and knew all of its weak points."

"He does make a good point." Dureau said flatly, looking over at Mercedes a moment, thinking back to when he had given the letter to Mastema to deliver to the Heroes so long ago.

"So do you think that was him?" Mercedes asked, already feeling a nervous excitement come over her, ready for a battle.

"It has to be; he was dressed in a fine robe with a mushroom shaped turban on his head." Luminous answered.

"Alright, what's our first move?" Latimer asked, jumping when he felt a hand come down on his shoulder, grabbing his crossbow and readying to fire when he saw that it was Dumia.

"Don't scare me like that!" Latimer hissed.

"What did you want me to do? Go running down the halls waving my arms yelling for the guards to come?" Dumia asked with a snort before waving her hand and shaking her head.

"That's not what I came here for. I left my Mecha on standby near where I think the wedding is going to be taking place for surveillance; the Princess is being held there right now and it's crawling with Guards."

"They should be of no matter." Dureau answered coldly, his Agies flaring on his wrist.

"If only it were that simple. Before the chapel, there are three large fluffy things being ridden by three more penguins, but each of them has a crown. I think they are the younger Princes of Pepe, and are acting as a high guard." Dumia activated her remote control, turning on the camera within it which depicted the large man and the one dressed in blue, who turned out to be an actual penguin.

"Oh that's just wrong." Dumia whispered, panning to the left slightly to see a slightly smaller penguin join the first one when three large creatures walked up to the door of the chapel where she had stationed her Mech. Each of them put a key into one of three locks on the door to open it, letting the large man and the two penguins through, then shutting the doors and locking them. They then turned around to stand guard, revealing the three penguins on their backs in saddles.

"This isn't good. They just went into the chapel." Dumia informed.

"We don't have long… we need to get passed those guards." Mercedes whispered.

"In my current state, I don't have the power needed to quiet them before reinforcements are called upon. Not even my spirit lock can move me fast enough." Dureau answered as Luminous said that he could try using his transporting ability which would get him to them, but still wouldn't allow for an attack before they could call for backup. Vondra looked down and shook her head; if they couldn't get passed they guards, there was no way they'd be able to stop the wedding without it becoming extremely complicated. As she thought, she remembered the solidified Pink Quartz power she had been given by Olsen. Quietly she reached into the sleeve of her glove, pulling out the small gem and watching as it sparkled in the sun, grinning to herself.

"I can do it. I have this; it should allow me to move fast enough." Latimer's eyes went wide.

"You're planning on using that thing now?! You don't even know what kind of effect if will have on you. Besides, you remember what it did to Olsen the first time he used it, and you haven't even practiced!"

"Latimer, I'll be fine. I'll just use it for this one attack." She assured, tucking the gem back into her sleeve and drawing her daggers.

"_Alright Olsen, let's see what kind of juice you gave me._" She thought, thinking back to stories of her father how he had said he would 'reach for the crystal's power' instead of using mana. Vondra closed her eyes for a few moments, trying to imagine what reaching for a power of that caliber would feel like, making herself feel the gem resting against her skin under her glove. The rush that flooded her body was something she was completely unprepared for, her hair and eyes turning bright pink while wings sprouted on her feet and the edges of her blades hummed with power.

She turned and began running down the hall towards the guards, everything seeming to be in slow motion as she crossed her blades. Golden light began streaming from their points and she ran, creeping down to the hilt until she was nearly upon the Guards, uncrossing her arms as fast as she could, skidding to a stop on one knee holding her blades up behind her. To the others it looked as though she had just teleported to where she was, watching as she slowly slid one of the daggers into the sheath on the back of her belt, and the other into the sheath on her hip. Just as the hilts made contact with the sheath neck, the Guards standing there collapsed to the ground as hot pink steam snaked into the air from their necks, allowing the others to run in her direction while she stood.

"All this talk about keeping me from killing, and then you go and kill the first thing you encounter that's a problem for you: you are such a hypocrite human." Dureau sneered when Vondra grabbed his arm.

"I restrained myself and hit them with the pummel of my daggers, not the blade." Vondra answered before she collapsed to her knees, panting and heaving for breath.

"What's wrong?" Mercedes asked since she and Acer were the last ones to walk passed her.

"She'll be alright, just give her a minute. We need to stop that wedding." Acer urged as Vondra nodded for Mercedes to go on ahead only able to mouth that she would catch up in a bit. Once they had left Vondra fell to her hands, heaving for breath as she reached into the knapsack for an orange peel potion; no wonder Jenny had warned them about using this kind of power. Sure the benefits were there, but this wasn't exactly something she was prepared for. The others made their way to the courtyard leading into the chapel and once there Latimer, Dumia and Acer all hung their heads in annoyed defeat when they recognized the creatures standing guard.

"There's no way we'll defeat a Yeti in time. Normally the Yeti are a pain to deal with on their own, but these three look like they've been altered." Dumia said, typing in something to the control unit on her arm.

"We don't need to defeat them; we just need to take their keys. If you three can get them to drop their keys and hold them off, I'm sure that Dureau, Luminous and I should be able to restrain the one's responsible for forcing the wedding." Mercedes offered as they all looked to each other, visually asking for 'a better idea'.

"Well, it's all we've got." Acer said hoisting the cannon onto his shoulder as it hummed to life.

"I shall retrieve the keys as they drop." Drueau said, nodding to Dumia.

"Acer, you and Latimer draw their attention for just a bit, my mech is standing just outside the wall here but it's running a start-up check. I need another few seconds before I join you."

"Got it. Think you can keep up Latimer?" Acer asked with a grin as he ran out from their hiding spot and took aim.

"Oi! Your mother was a throw rug!" he shouted, making them turn their attention to him with an uninterested grunt. The momentary lull that followed gave Acer the time that he needed to charge one of his more powerful attacks. He slammed a plate on the side of the cannon, making violet colored swirls spiral over it and when he pulled the trigger, the very end of the barrel split apart into four pieces. From the spaces they created, three mana ribbons poured forward winding around themselves until they had created what looked to be a drill. It was only once the drill had solidified that the beasts realized that they were facing an enemy, all three of them raising their hands into the air. Another moment passed as even more mana compressed into the cannon itself, making pipelines and circuits along the cannon glow brightly.

"Take this you fuzzy beast." Acer whispered when the drill spun up, howling a high pitched note before the cannon roared, launching the drill and slamming into the middle beast. The beasts that were beside him did little to acknowledge that one of them were taken down, slamming their hands into the ground as raceways of ice rocketed towards him. Acer quickly put the muzzle of his cannon of the ground, pulling the trigger launching him high into the air. But as he flew into the air, they didn't notice Latimer walk forward holding down the trigger of his crossbow while a swirl of bright red-orange energy hung at the front of it until the arrow within the bow drove through the swirl, splitting into three arrows.

One of the beasts that looked down held up its arm, making all three arrows stick into its forearm which did nothing more than make it angry, roaring as loud as he could in pain. Blaze jumped in front of Latimer, his claws extended as his coat began to glow red making lose stones float into the air before unleashing a roar so loud that the entirety of the courtyard shook. Each of the beasts held up their hands to their ears, making something metal hit the ground. Dureau's ears picked up the noise, his eyes wide and wild looking over the ground for where the noise had come from, quickly finding the key flashing across the courtyard, weaving between the attacks of the Yeti.

Just as he was reaching out his hand for the key, an explosion erupted above him when Acer tossed a small explosive barrel at the attacking Yeti, tossing it back. The look that Dureau shot back at him was deadly, but meaningful as though thanking him for his assistance close though it may have been. With another beat of his wings, Dureau was out of the fighting area and back with the others when Dumia jumped high over the wall, clasping her hand above her as they transformed into a rocket powered hammer. Her voice blasted over the external speakers as she hit the ground making a ripple spread from the contact point and knock another of the Yetis off balance, opening its clasped hand and let go of the tiny key into the air. Dureau was already focused on it and began making his way towards it before it had a chance to hit the ground.

The first Yeti that had been knocked aside finally got back up and began to wrestle with Dumia, matching the Mecha's mechanical strength ounce for ounce. Acer landed just behind Dumia, spinning in the cannon around for a moment before dropping it on the ground, folding down the trigger handle as mana poured from the muzzle, creating a huge drum that felt like it was taking forever as Dumia pushed the yeti back as hard as she could when finally the drum was finished. Acer reached behind him, putting on a large metal glove and striking the drum as hard as he could: the resulting shockwave hit the Yeti hard, making him slide back into the second one.

Latmier used the opportunity of the two of them being pushed together to weaken them as a glowing arrow locked into place in the cross bow. He then reached his hand to a handle further up the body when the bolt doubled in diameter as a spring formed around the shaft launching the arrow hard enough that it pierced through both of the Yeti which neither of them felt in their rage. A third and final clink hit the ground, making Dureau search as fast as he could for the key; Luminous was the one to spot it and got to his feet as light began engulfing him.

"Get Mercedes to the door, I'll meet you there." he commanded, disappearing in a streak of light and arriving at the key with a running start. However he miscalculated as the large hand of the Yeti who had dropped it began to come down on him. Dumia turned to see what was happening, her mind racing as the Nanites in her system reacted and engaged the Rush Thrusters, making her once heavy mecha into a speeding ten ton bullet that reached out and stopped the hand just before Luminous passed by, grabbing the key and flashing to the door where Mercedes and Dureau waited. But as she held back the Yeti in her hand, another was rushing towards the door and there was nothing that she would be able to do about it, even if she engaged her Rush Thrusters again. Acer kicked his cannon off the ground into his hands jumping into the air and pulling the trigger, using the kickback from the mana shot to shove him back fast enough to slide in front of the door.

"Not this time bub!" he shouted, holding up the end of the cannon as it glowed bright red and fired a high energy beam, which once it had subsided, revealed that the Yet's left arm had been disintegrated off. With a smirk he looked back to those that were behind him.

"Go on, we've got this." He said slyly as they opened the door and slipped through, allowing him to turn his attention back to the Yeti still standing in front of him with a confused look on his face before turning back to Acer.

"What? You didn't think I'd forgotten about you all of a sudden did you?" he smiled, cocking back the hammer of the cannon, taking aim at his head and pulling the trigger.

"I've never seen that kind of power." Mercedes commented as they three of them ran through the halls.

"Latimer and Dumia are two of The Guardian's children and are ranked among some of the best within Edelstein's High Guard. The one with the cannon I'm not so familiar with." Dureau answered.

"What of the other young woman?" Mercedes asked.

"Vondra?" Luminous asked.

"Yes, the power that she wielded is far beyond anything that I have ever seen. It is on par with that of Minerva."

"Save your questions and ready for battle, the main sanctuary is just ahead." Dureau commanded when they burst through the door, making the few that were at the front turn to them.

"Please! Don't hurt us!" a woman said as two of her attendants moved closer together to protect her.

"Princess Violetta, please remember your position. I would hate for your father to be killed." A Penguin said, waddling into the chamber with another shorter one beside him.

"Princess Violetta? That's the Princess? Then you must be Pepe." Luminous surmised, walking towards him with a purpose driven stride.

"Please stay away!" the Princess begged, appearing to try and keep her face hidden from view.

"Your father has sent us to put an end to this, and that is exactly what we intend to do." Dureau answered, walking up with Mercedes beside Luminous.

"Someone such as you is a warrior?" the princess asked, turning her head towards Mercedes and spreading her fingers just enough that her light tan eyes shone between her fingers. Mercedes looked down to her, turning her head in wonder at her question.

"Why would you ask something as such Princess?"

"Are you here to stop me or are you here to discuss make-up tactics?!" the penguin asked angrily, stamping his foot which only made a rather comedic slapping noise against the ground. Dureau raised his wings when he saw a small smirk on the penguin's face and began to rush him, his left arm becoming a large clawed nightmare and held Pepe against the wall.

"Please, you have to leave before he comes! No one can stand up to him." the princess begged again. Dureau was confused, trying to decode what the Princess meant by another _him_ coming since Pepe was already here, when he felt a twinge of power making him stop and jump back. He moved just in time as a large stone something crashed into the ground, caving in part of the floor and lifting the dust from between the bricks.

"You will face me." A voice said with a growl as the stone shrank away and revealed a large man pulling his feet from the ground and step up the crater. Luminous looked over at the princess, noting that her demeanor had become fearful, shrinking away from the scene and away from the penguins that stood near her.

"And who would you be?" Mercedes demanded reaching for her bow guns as the Soul Arrows came to life on the back of the body.

"I am the one that made the invasion for Pepe possible. King Mushi has been leading this kingdom with a soft hand, so it is time for someone that has drive, presence, and a will to lead the kingdom the way it _should _be led." He said, sweeping the short staff in his hand to the side, blowing away the dust that had gathered around him revealing a substantially overweight man dressed in a fine suit and a mushroom shaped medal on his lapel.

"My name is Augustine, Prime Minister of the Mushroom Empire. Pepe has the military resources that I lack, since most of the soldiers of this kingdom wouldn't think about joining my cause to overthrow the old king and give this kingdom what it deserves!"

"What you are talking about is nothing short of tyranny Augustine!" The princess yelled, turning away and putting her hands to the ground, which made Dureau begin to wonder why she constantly turned away.

"On the contrary Violetta." Augustine laughed when Luminous roared.

"Enough! The rightful king of this land will be returned to his throne!" Luminous thundered, his right eye glowing brightly, lowering his stance as dark energy began to emanate from the end of his staff.

"Then I would like to see you try." Augustine grinned, holding his staff up slightly, making his hat glow a strange blue-violet and conjuring soldiers from his own mana.

"Destroy them!" he shouted. Luminous simply grinned and a large card-like formation of light appeared behind him, swinging his staff with a wide arch making small spears of light shoot down from the card at the soldiers. Few of the soldiers managed to deflect the incoming spears, and those that didn't were cut through their bodies. Mercedes leapt into the air, shooting forward in a swirl of light towards Augustine taking aim and about to pull the trigger when his staff glowed brightly, allowing him to leap just as high as Mercedes had. His actions caught her by surprise when she was suddenly facing the same man made of stone, swinging his fist down at her hard.

In another burst of green light, Mercedes shot higher making him miss, but allowed her to pull the triggers of her guns slamming arrows into the minister's back and drive him to the ground. Luminous was too busy with the soldiers on the ground to notice the incoming stone Minister, shoved out of the way by Dureau. Once Dureau had pushed Luminous, he held back his mace as far as he could which became a large twin bladed scythe and swung up as hard as he could. The blade caught the Minister in the crook of the blade and threw him to the ground making Dureau wince in pain: the minister was heavier than he looked and he could feel it in his shoulder. Once the minister landed, the stone armor around him faded giving Luminous the chance he needed to rush past Dureau with a hexagonal dome forming around him, pushing the Minister back hard towards Mercedes who had landed not too far away.

Glowing ferns reached up her legs, crossing her guns as a breeze curled around them and gathered her hair into a vertical cushion as a look of determination set itself on her attractive face. The minister had only enough time to watch as Mercedes rushed to him, slamming one of her guns into the ground and pulling the trigger, launching him into the air as a large corkscrew burst from the ground. Still using her forward momentum, she lifted her body parallel to the ground and aimed her other bow straight up as golden arrows fired from it, slicing through the Minister's flabby body before he crashed back to the ground.

"Is that all you've got?" The minister asked with a growl as he got to his feet, shaking the blood from his hand after checking one of his wounds and holding up his wand, transforming him into stone once more. Dureau readied to attack, his right arm becoming nothing but a clawed cloud as he ran forward. But when he stopped behind the minister, the only evidence that he had done anything remained only as surface scratches. Blood spurt from Dureau's claws and he reached for his now broken arm. Luminous twirled his staff then held it parallel to the ground as he was beginning to activate a spell booster, but was caught off guard when the Minister was standing over him and swung his fist sending Luminous crashing into the wall hard.

"I'm telling you; there is no defeating me!" He shouted, turning to Mercedes and jumping at her. Before she had a chance to react, the Minister crashed into the ground in front of her making her jump back at a bad angle, twisting her ankle hard when she landed and bringing her to the ground.

"This is my kingdom now! And there is nothing that will stop me!" the Minister shouted. Luminous pulled himself from the rubble, looking beyond the Minister noticing that Pepe and the priest had been conducting the wedding while they were busy with the Minister. From around Luminous, a dark light flared across the ground while an orb appeared at his side, circling him as he stood and shot forward in a flash of light where another orb appeared, circling him once again. The minister noticed Luminous movements and was about to charge at him when Dureau appeared before him in a pillar of dark light, his appearance causing a small pressure wave to push the Minister back.

"I still owe you for what you've done." Dureau said darkly, swinging his mace down hard making the Minister forcefully bow as a flare of dark orange Agies tore through the stone exterior. With another hard swing forward, the stone around his torso was turned to dust forcing the Minister backwards. Dureau stepped into his attack, swinging up as hard as he could at the Minster's chin, throwing his head back into the air only to be met once again with another swing even harder than the last, which made the stone around his head crack and peel away.

"NOW DIE!" Dureau growled, stepping back and holding his mace as far back as he could reach where his Agies flared into the shape of what appeared to be a Dragon's head, rushing forwards and clamping its jaw around him as it drove the Minister back. Mercedes breathed hard, rising above the pain that burned in her ankle, taking aim at the Minister once again as the bolts that lay in wait became spirals of green and black energy that caught the Minister as he was thrown back, pinning him to the wall for a moment before dissipating and letting him drop to the ground. The minister looked up as he struggled to get back up, seeing that Luminous had stopped the old and gullible priest from marrying off the Princess and holding Pepe off to the side.

"It's not over!" the fat man said, struggling to get to his feet, only to fall over to the ground once again.

"Yes, it is Augustine. There is no honor in continuing to fight when you've already lost." Mercedes answered sternly, managing to limp over and stand over him with one of her guns to his face.

"I'm still alive and I still have this!" the minister snarled, holding up his staff as it began to glow until Luminous took it away from him after tying up Pepe and his son.

"This is not something that a person of your caliber should even be allowed to handle. This is a precious Aurora crystal, one used by the mages of the Order of Light!" Luminous shouted, slamming the wand to the ground and breaking the fist sized crystal free from it. Dureau held his mace to the side, readying the large scythe as aura gathered around it to create the blade when the soldiers of King Mushi burst through the door followed by Laitmer, Dumia, and Vondra. Quickly Luminous reached his hand to Dureau's wrist and shook his head as the soldiers surrounded Augustine, all pointing their spears down at him while Mercedes pulled Dureau away.

"Augustine, I can't believe that you would do something of this caliber against your own kingdom." King Mushi said with a grunt as he stood over him, walking with the assistance of Kelly.

"You've ruled too long Mushi, and you've become soft." Augustine growled, hissing through his teeth as the pain of his wounds from the battle began to burn.

"Then maybe it _is_ time that I pass the throne to another, but I will be the one to pass it to one who is worthy of it. Taking a kingdom by force is beneath you Augustine; you are hereby banished from the Mushroom Empire. Until you are able to leave on your own, you will be held in prison." King Mushi declared. Augustine grit his teeth hard, more so groaning against the pain that was pulsing through his arms, legs and part of his gut that had been pierced.

"You are going to run this kingdom to ruin Mushi, you have no idea what this kingdom could have been." With some assistance from one of the guards, Mushi knelt down to him and locked gazes.

"You're right, I don't know what this kingdom would have been. But with what I've seen you do in a matter a three days, I'm glad that it will never be. Take him away, and treat his wounds." Roughly, the guards pulled him to his feet, escorting him out of the chapel as he shouted threats of his return. While Mushi went to see his daughter to make sure that she was alright, Dumia walked up to Dureau, asking him something with a serious tone in her voice.

"I saw you standing over the Prime Minister: would you have killed him if we hadn't come when we did?" Dureau looked up, watching the soldiers lead Pepe and his soldiers away from the chapel in chains and smirked, grunting slightly as he reached up to his broken arm.

"I guess we'll never know." He chuckled. Dumia huffed as she shook her head and was about to press further for a straight answer when the voice of the princess cut her thought short.

"Some of you may have been wondering why it is that I have been hiding my face from you." she began, turning her veiled face slightly towards Dureau before continuing on.

"Indeed I have been, but only because it has been a tradition for many years that the princess must hide her face until she has been married. For a long while I have been speaking with my father to lift the edict since it is not only a bother to me, but makes me feel as though I am disconnected from the people of this land. And so finally, my father the King has agreed to lift it and I would like you to be the first outside of the royal family to see my face." Vondra instantly stepped before them and waved her hands back and forth.

"No no no, you don't need to do that. I think the people of the Mushroom Empire should be the ones to…"

"Please; after all you were the ones to stop the horrible wedding from taking place and saved the entirety of the Mushroom Empire. I feel that it is the least I could do to thank you." With a sweep of her hands, the Princess pulled back her veil causing all who were there to gaze with adoration at her simple beauty.

"It's no wonder your father had made such an edict in the first place. You are indeed a beautiful Princess." Mercedes commented, kneeling to the ground and urging the others to do the same.

"I thank you for the complement coming from someone such as you since your beauty surpasses that of my own." Violetta answered. Mercedes smiled, but in actuality she was becoming tired of the constant compliments to her beauty. As they were beginning to stand, a soldier ran back into the chapel, his armor bloodied and walking with a limp dragging his leg behind him until Latimer caught him before he hit the ground, quickly surrounded by the King and a few of the soldiers.

"What happened?" the king asked as the soldier reached up and gripped the King's coat.

"Please forgive use sire. They attacked us from nowhere, and took the Prime Minister with them." he gurgled, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Save your strength soldier. Quickly, take him to have his wounds treated." Mushi commanded, looking back to the hall where the soldier had come from: who on earth would have wanted to take the Prime Minister?

Calmly Clytemnestra swept the brush through her long hair until Irena came walking though the door, interrupting the quite she had surrounded herself in, crushing the brush with a pulse of black power.

"Yes? What is it?" she asked with a sneer, getting up from the vanity and turning to face her.

"He's here to speak with you about…" Irena was shoved out of the way as Augustine and a few of the penguin soldiers from Pepe's army roughly came through the door.

"How dare you deceive me Clytemnestra! You promised that The Guardians were no longer here in Ossyria!" Augustine bellowed. Clytemnestra simply smiled, walking up to him as she twisted her hips side to side, looking up at him alluringly until she was close enough to him that it offered him a grand view of her chest while placing a hand on the side of his plump face.

"Indeed, they are no longer here in Ossyria. Whoever it was that came and stopped you was not part of my concern. You failed and that is all there is to that." She said softly, turning around and walking away from him as the apparatus hovered over to her and put its metal arms around her.

"Then help me take the Kingdom back from King Mushi! I am the rightful ruler of the land!"

"Your wants are your responsibility; I have fulfilled my contract with you and I am not bound to assist you any further." Augustine's face went red with rage, grabbing a nearby weapon and readying to attack her.

"You _will_ help m or I will…" his sentence cut off as Clytemnestra turned around, sweeping her hand back turning Augustine and the soldiers that came with him into ashes blowing across the ground.

"What a waste of space." She mumbled as Irena closed the doors, leaving her to her peace once again. For a brief moment she put her hand to her forehead and seemed to have become lost, looking around for something until she spied a mirror and walked slowly up to it. She looked at her hands and touched her face, leaning closer to inspect it. As she continued to look in the mirror, her image suddenly became a black cloaked figured with red glowing eyes, black aura seeping from his body into the air surprising her so much that she fell back in fear against the bed. The impact from hitting her head caused a temporary black out, after which she put a hand to her head then looked at her palm before clenching her hand so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh, making a stream of crimson fall to the ground.

"_I see. You are becoming quite the bother. Perhaps one day, I will be rid of you._

_"I won't be banished from my own body so easily."_ a female voice thought in return. Clytemnestra slowly let out a hissing breath, looking up into the mirror that was before her, holding her bloody hand up and firing an invisible spear of power, shattering the image into hundreds of herself. Perhaps Yoshumari was right; perhaps she did fear _her_. But even if that were so, she was in control, not _her_.

"You will submit in time." she hissed holding her hand under the other as she began healing her wound.

* * *

**Fixed small error.**


	11. Chapter 10: Rolling Thunder of the Past

Chapter 10: Rolling Thunder of the Past

_For weeks the painful needles would be driven into his fins which had become what the humans referred to as arms and legs. Many a time he had tried to escape, using his power and this new form that he had been forcibly given, but would only find himself stopped by the man that called himself The Black Mage. Not only would he be trained endlessly in combat tactics, but he would be forced to fight alongside the Mage's personal pet, Balrog which he hated. However as he fought, he couldn't help feeling that there was something missing, something that had been taken from him a long time ago. _

_He still had a strong ability to create electricity with his body, making some of his attacks many times deadlier, but that wasn't it. Another question that would arise in his head was about the strange, badly healed scar on his stomach and back. Yes he had been the king of the oceans for some time, but where had the scar come from? He could remember no battle or injury that would explain it. Those weeks turned to months and eventually into years, serving the Black Mage as another of his experiments who brought terror to all in Ossyria, following the leadership of General Dureau. _

_However, something happened, something that would change the course of his life forever: a single man using the same power he weilded attacked the Black Mage's headquarters at the time. Sunil and Balrog were sent to suppress the threat, but when he was about to attack him Sunil stopped, feeling as though he recognized him from somewhere long ago. But it wasn't from the time he was in now, no; it was from the future. But how could he recognize a man from the future that he had never even seen? The man moved with such speed a grace that before Sunil could react, everything went black_ waking Firebot with a start, sitting up and breathing slowly as his heart calmed into a steady rhythm.

Monsoon had elected to stay near him since doing so seemed to help him relax and sleep peacefully but she was still asleep sitting in her chair. Firebolt pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing the sleepers from his eyes when he stopped: his hand felt strange. Pulling his hand away he saw that it wasn't the pinkish flesh of a human, but a strange, clammy, blue-grey. He clenched his hand a few times and within a few seconds his hand was back to normal, resting his hand and beginning to think about the dream that he had. That man: he recognized him but from where? He quickly looked down at his abs, putting his hand on them and feeling the same badly healed scar. Somehow the man he had seen in his dream and this scar were connected, but he didn't know how, nor did he know why he even knew there was a connection.

"Hawk, what's wrong? Still can't sleep?" Monsoon asked, moving to the side of Firebolt's bed.

"No, this time I've gotten even further in the dream. There's more to what I remember; further back than when I met you as part of the Empress's guard. I think I may be as old as Athena, and that someone helped me get out of the service of the Black Mage." He mused, his eyes flitting here and there as he thought.

"Are you sure? Does it have anything to do with why you're turning into that shark thing?" Firebolt shook his head and waved his hand.

"I'm not sure. For all I know… it could be… the reason… that…" His speech suddenly became labored as be heaved for breath after every word until he could no longer speak. He held his chest, feeling like his heart was racing and his chest was becoming tighter and tighter. His whole mind burned and screamed for him to dive into a lake or the ocean. Getting to his feet he began to run, but his head felt light as he stumbled around starving for air.

"Firebolt? Firebolt, what's wrong?" Monsoon asked, helping him to his feet and leading him out of the door following where he led. Franticly he searched, for some sort of water, any water that would allow him to breathe.

"Water… water…" His eyes were wild and watering, his body tense; where was the damn water?! Was he really going to die like this? To have his life snuffed out so easily by something so stupid as not being able to breathe?

"What are you doing?! Get him into water!" a voice commanded, rushing to his side, picking him up as though it were nothing and tossing him into a small pond where he was able to breathe finally, staying under the water to clear his head before coming up to the surface once again. For a minute all he could see was Monsoon standing next to the pool until he was able to blink away the water in his eyes and see a man squatting next to the water with a bladed glove strapped to his hands, when the man's voice made Firebolt focus his eyes on him.

"It's been sometime since I saw you last, Thunder Shark."

* * *

Phantom had been sitting in his room for the past few hours, kicking himself for not going with the others when they had gone to help the Mushroom Emprire: there could have been so many valuables that were ripe for the taking. But Luminous had opened the old wound of Aria's death so he was not going to return to them until Luminous came to him and apologized.

After he had failed to retrieve the Seal in Rein he had returned with a temper, seething in his room for nearly an hour before he was calm enough to talk to Christiane, asking her to find out anything she could on what was going on with the disappearance of historical records pertaining to the Heroes. Since that time four days had gone by, and still no information was surfacing about what the Black Wings were doing or how they were destroying such important documents without anyone noticing when a knock at his door and woke him from his thoughts.

"Come in." he called, turning around to see that it was Collette having with her a clipboard, as she usually did.

"Sir, Christiane opted for my assistance since searching for something like this usually requires detail."

"Ah, I see. Well then what have you've found." Phantom asked with feigned interest. Collette adjusted her glasses a moment, taking a look at her clipboard for the information that she had gathered.

"From the information that you gathered when you had gone to Rein, I was able to track down someone that may know more about the history of Ossyria and why it is being destroyed by the Black Wings. His name is Alcaster and apparently he's been around for some time, almost a hundred years to be exact." Phantom held his chin, thinking hard about his next move: if this Alcaster did indeed know why they were ridding Ossyria of its history, he could possibly be leading the Black Wings to a very important piece of the historical puzzle, and would no doubt have him killed. However it was a risk that he had to take.

"Where does Alcaster live?"

"He lives in the snow city of El Nath beneath…"

"…the Palace City of Orbis. Very well, tell Renault to fly there immediately and as fast as possible." After Collette left, Phantom began searching through his closets for the warm clothes that he would no doubt need for this journey when he came across a card with a rose painted on the front. Memories of Aria flooded his mind when another card fell from behind it and drifted to the floor face down. This particular card was one that Phantom had never seen before: sure he hadn't used _all_ the cards that were strapped to his belt, but this card didn't have the same back design that the others had. When he picked it up, he saw that it was a landscape picture of him and the others with Minerva and Aria all together as though it were a sign that he needed the others.

"Be reasonable Aria, You know me: I've worked alone for years." He said to the air, but the coy smile on Aria's face in that picture kept haunting him as if she were urging him to do what he hated most: admit that he might be the one that was wrong. At last he growled and cued the intercom.

"Renault."

"_Yes Master Phantom?_"

"Go back to the camp set up by the Guardians, I have some business that I need to attend to there."

"_Anything that I should be worried about?_" Renault asked.

"No, just some past emotions that need reconciling." He breathed, letting go of the com button as he felt the ship list to the right and turn back around. A short time later he found himself standing on the far side of the camp, still kicking himself for even coming here to try an reconcile with Luminous but going alone to El Nath could mean disaster. After asking around he managed to find where Mercedes and Luminous were sitting near the center with the Guardians discussing the patrol around the camp, brought to a stop when Acer caught sight of Phantom.

"Hi, how are you doing?" Phantom asked sheepishly, nervously looking around at everyone.

"What are you doing here Phantom?" Luminous growled turning his staff slightly to reveal the second Master Crystal freshly mounted.

"Luminous, I'm not here to gloat. I'm here to ask for your help."

"I thought that you didn't need our help; that you worked 'alone'." Luminous mocked, holding his figers up in air quotation marks.

"I do, but this quest that I am on may require more than just myself. I was called to Rein to try and retrieve a Seal. Unfortunately, it was taken from me."

"You lost a Seal?!" Mercedes exclaimed, making Phantom look her hard in the eye.

"YES! I lost a Seal. What's done is done, and there is no getting it back right now since I don't even know where they are being taken in the first place. But that is beside the point of why I've come: my intelligence officers aboard my ship have found there is someone here that might be able to explain why it is the Black Wings are destroying the history of Ossyria." Mercedes and Luminous eyed each other carefully for a few moments when Luminous stood and met Phantom face to face, his right eye glowing under the hair draped over it.

"It's as close to an apology I'll get isn't it?" he growled, Phantom smiling his trademark boyish grin.

"Don't flatter yourself Luminous. The History of Ossyria is at stake here." Luminous growled low in his throat as he walked past him towards the pod still resting on the ground outside of town as Mercedes smiled and nodded her head.

"Thank you Phantom for inviting us. I could use the Practice." She said, flicking a feather on his fez as she walked passed. Phantom bowed in return, but when he turned around Luminous was already standing in his path with a dark look upon his face.

"You don't want to save the history of Ossyria, you just want to find any information that you can about Aria's death." Luminous hissed. Phantom's ability to keep his anger in check boiled over, lunging at him and bringing him to the ground with his fist drawn back, but was pulled away from Luminous by Mercedes and held back.

"SHE DESERVES THAT MUCH!"

"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT!" Latimer shouted, as Blaze roared loud enough that even covering their ears didn't block out the ear piercing noise. With a hard look Phantom pushed Mercedes aside, walking quickly to the pod and slumping down into the seat with an agitated look on his face when he turned to the others and shrugged his shoulder.

"Are you coming?!" he asked. Luminous huffed through his teeth and sat on the back while Mercedes gracefully sat upon the front of the pod. Just as Phantom was about to push the button to raise them to the Lumiere, a large man dressed in black armor with sandy colored hair came walking through the camp.

"Does anyone know where I can find 'The Guardians'?" the man asked in a strong voice.

"We are they." Patricia called, jogging over to him after getting to her feet. Phantom hesitated for a moment, but was urged along to their own mission by Vondra as she and the others came to see what it was this man needed.

"Are you the ones who defeated the Black Mage? The ones who wield the power of the Crystals?" the man asked, looking hard as each of them. Acer stepped forward and tried to stand as tall as he could before the man to make it seem as though he were tougher.

"And why don't you take our word for it? We said we're the Guardians, so why don't you believe us?" The man looked them over, looking as though he chose his words carefully before speaking.

"I'm sorry; I'm looking for the Guardians of Ossyria." The man answered as Dumia stepped up.

"We're them! How many times do we have to say it before you believe us?"

"But you're just children, barely even fourth degree." Dumia lost her patience and shook her head as she pressed he fingers to her forehead, motioning for a soldier to come over.

"Alright that's it. Hey Jim, escort this guy to the perimeter and send him on his way."

"Wait. I am simply looking for those by the names Helen, Olsen, Jack, Jenny, Matthew and Lillianne. I've come to understand that they were the Guardians." Patricia took a breath and set a hand on Dumia's shoulder.

"They were the Guardians, but since the Dream Fragments have separated us from them, we have been named as the Guardians in their stead. We do however have their power here with us." She answered, holding up her wrist to reveal a bracelet holding the gem of power given to her by Helen. The man eyed them for a moment, not sure if what they were saying was indeed true.

"We are their children." Patricia further stated, making understanding come across the man's face as he nodded.

"I see. I must apologize since it has been some time since I have seen them in action. Is there some place that we could talk privately?" Latimer looked around, motioning for the man to follow him as they walked into a secluded part of the forest where not many people knew about or came to.

"My name is Wence of the Silent Crusade, current Chief Lieutenant."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of you guys." Dumia said with a grin, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg.

"Yes, not many people know of us. We aren't able to operate with the same efficiency since Bastille is no longer the one providing our funding. We of the Silent Crusade have been fighting a war against Arkarium of the Black Wings who is trying to break through a seal that leads to the past. While our forces have been able to keep him occupied, there have been strange portals appearing around Ossyria."

"What are they?" Latimer asked, sitting down on the ground as he became interested.

"I'm not sure, but with each new sighting of one, Arkarium seems as if he is able to break through another layer of the seal with greater ease."

"And where is this seal?" Vondra asked.

"Within the Temple of Time." Vondra jerked her head back in confusion.

"How can you get to the Temple of Time when it is outside of the Rift we are in?"

"One of our agents seems to think that the Temple of Time here is a mirror image of the one that exists in the real world, and whatever happens there, happens in the real temple. But that is not why I called on you. We are able to distract Arkarium enough that he has to stop his assault on the seal and leave from time to time, allowing us to repair it. But our forces are concentrated so heavily on that, we have no capable soldiers to take care of the Portals, which is why I am asking you to help the Silent Crusade put another dent in Arkarium's plan." Acer rocked his head from side to side, looking to the others as he grinned widely.

"Well this is starting to get exciting! I'm all in for this!" Acer called, lacing his fingers and cracking his knuckles. Latimer shook his head: all Acer heard was that there was a need for stuff to be done and he was already to go without even knowing what it was that he needed to do.

"What exactly do these portals lead to?" Latimer asked.

"We don't know just yet. The senior officer in Kerning sent us a message not too long ago which is where the first portal appeared. I sent Starling, my expert reconnaissance officer to check the portal a few days ago, but I have yet to hear from her or the Kerning leader on her whereabouts. This is why I've come to you: I need you to find this portal, rescue my agent and destroy the portal if you can." Dumia crossed her arms, looking to those around her and grinning widely, nodding her head in agreement to help. Acer and Latimer began preparations with what they would need for their journey and for the battles that would no doubt lay ahead while Dumia began a final check of her Mech's systems and weapons.

"Who is the lead officer in Kerning that we need to speak to once there?" Patricia asked as she gathered a bare minimum of potions to take with them since they had no means at the moment for creating more.

"His name is Mandral: he may seem like he's a bit off, but he has a very sharp mind." Wence replied as Patricia nodded and threw the bag she had been packing over her shoulder, walking towards the others as they got ready.

* * *

"Do I know you?" Firebolt asked, sinking a bit into the water and taking a deep breath.

"I'm surprised that you still remember me Thunder Shark: it's been a while since I last saw you." the man smiled, standing tall. Firebolt squinted his eyes, still unable to fully grasp who this man was, as if there was a large part of his memory missing: maybe there was something that he _didn't_ want to remember.

"Still having trouble?" the man asked.

"I can only remember you when something happened at the Black Wings facility." Firebolt said wistfully, making the man that stood before him chuckle and sit down on the ground, taking the gloves from his hands.

"Yes, that was me. But you still don't remember what happened before or afterward, or what my name is do you?" the man asked, making Firebolt think all the harder to try and remember, when something began to catch about him and this man hiding out in the woods and performing multiple treatments of some kind.

"Let me give you a hand: My name is Raknarok. I am the reason for the scar on your gut. I was the one that put it there when I killed you and took the shark spirit from you. I nearly drowned trying to get it though." Firebolt's eyes darted back and forth, a memory flashing through his mind of a young person fighting him underwater, punching through his gut and having the life drain out of his body while watching the power he had tried so hard to acquire be taken from him so easily.

"Yes, I remember that. But if you killed me, then how am I alive now? What happened?!" Firebolt exclaimed, suddenly having to dip below the water and take a breath.

"Calm down Thunder Shark…"

"And my name isn't Thunder Shark! It's Sun… it's Hawkeye." Firebolt snapped.

"My apologies Hawkeye, just calm down. I'll explain. I found out later that one of the Black Mage's star disciples, Eleanor, had been following me ever since I managed to escape one of their test facilities and saw me kill you. The Mage had heard of your power even before you took the Shark Spirit for your own power and taught Eleanor the means to resurrect you and send you back in time to before he was sealed."

"Wait, how can that be? I thought that if one goes back in time, they can only go back as far as just after The Mage was sealed." Monsoon asked.

"Such knowledge is incomplete." A female voice said. Firebolt looked behind him to see Helen standing there, suddenly feeling a rise in tension from Raknarok.

"Wait Rock, she's a friend. Helen Olman Da'Lor, Master Magician of Ossyria." Firebolt called; Rock eyed Firebolt for a moment, pulling his hand slowly away from his gloves settling to a squatted position before asking questions of her.

"What do you mean 'not entirely true'?" Rock asked, regarding Helen with a sense of mistrust. Helen smiled slightly, before taking a seat on a chair made purely of magic and began her explaination.

"When luminous enacted said seal on the black mage, time had become seal'd only in the temple of time, pertaining to the seal. If one hath gone to the past for another reason in another place, they can. However, the seal reaches far for the nonce of The Mage's seal. If one goeth back to attempt altering the past and prevent the seal, the seal will in turn correct this by enacting other events to rid itself of the abnormality, leading to The Mage becoming sealed. " Raknarock cradled his chin, trying to think of the events that had happened over his life that now made sense.

"I see; then that explains why I was called to the Temple of Time; you were the anomaly in the Black Mage's path that would ultimately lead to his Sealing. When I was younger, I and my friends were called to the Temple of Time and told that we were to go through time. Where and when it would send us would remain unknown, but once there we would just know what needed to be done. How long we stayed in any one time period was also a mystery, so we had to act fast." Rock furthing explained, slowly allowing himself to trust this Helen; he was indeed powerful, but the presence this Helen had was both frightening and comforting, pressing all around him like a tightly wrapped blanket.

"So then it was you that took me away from the Black Mage's facility! But if that's the case, then I'm older than Athena!" Firebolt exclaimed, hanging his head with the knowledge that so many more years were on life than he first thought.

"No; my time there was up, but I knew that I had to be in contact with you when I left, flinging us both into the future just a few years before Cygnus was crowned Empress." Firebolt sighed a bit in relief, but that only opened a channel for another question as foggy memories began to catch and reform in his mind.

"If that's the case, then how did I get a full human form?" Rock, grinned slightly and popped his knuckles.

"That is a bit of a story in itself: we had both been transported to a section of the Minar Forest bordering the desert where over the next couple of years I used a spell that would turn you completely human so that you wouldn't need to breath via water."

"Then why are you back? The Black Mage isn't being sealed anymore." Firebolt asked, raising an eyebrow. Rock chuckled as he sat down once again.

"I actually came on my own to see how you were doing by coming through the Time Gate. The spell I used on you was only meant to last 70 years at most, but something must have happened in the past that made the spell wear off faster, so you were reverting to your shark form. I'll admit that the spell is powerful, but you are also extremely unstable and unpredictable. Now that I'm here, I'll help you reapply it and teach you how to do it so if it happens again, you can apply it yourself." Rock grinned, but Monsoon noticed something else about the grin as he turned to get supplies, following after him.

"You're not telling him the whole story are you?" Monsoon asked as she walked with him.

"No I'm not, and for good reason." Once Firebolt and Helen were out of sight and out of hearing range, Monsoon pulled on Rock's arm and stopped his marching walk hard, turning him to her and drawing her bow as the arrow within it howled.

"Tell me what's really going on here Raknarok; what's really happening to Firebolt?" Rock sighed almost sadly, gently pushing the arrow away from him as he hung his head.

"What is your relationship to him? I know you're friends but…"

"If you're asking if I love him than yes I…" before Monsoon could finish, Raknarok grabbed her shoulders hard and held her still, swallowing a few times before continuing.

"The spell I used turns him into a human, but whether or not it stays in place hinges on how strong his life force is. When I used the spell, I thought that it would last for a lot longer than it did, but I didn't factor in how many years Hawkeye lived before I killed him, or how many years he had been in the service of the Black Mage before I took him away. Hawkeye is dying, and there is nothing that I can do to stop it: the only thing that I can do is make the spell stronger so that his human form remains." Monsoon stumbled back slightly as all the memories that she and Hawkeye had together began flowing through her mind.

When she had first met him, it took three trips to the brig before he calmed down enough for her to train him in his fighting forte; when Shinsoo assigned him his Thunder Spirit Guardian; their first battle as a team, their first real hello, their first date, their first kiss… how could it all just go away?! Slowly Monsoon released the tension on her bow and collapsed to her knees while the reality of it weighed heavier and heavier on her shoulders, making tears stain the ground. There had to be some way to prevent this from happening, there just had to be!

* * *

After a couple hours and using the ship's overdrive to outrun some terrifying creatures that chased after them from Ereve, the Lumiere came to a rest just outside of El Nath, allowing the three bundled up heroes to exit and struggle through the knee deep drifts. Once in town, they were greeted warmly and given a set of spikes to attach on their shoes since the snow in the town had been compacted to such a degree, the paths and streets were nothing more than a lumpy sheet of ice.

For a short while, the three of them took in the sights while periodically looking up into the sky to try and see Orbis bringing back memories for the three of them, only able to see the dense cloud cover that served to support most of the Palace City. During their exploration, Phantom asked one of the people living there where they could find Alcaster and were led by that person straight to his door. From inside they could hear someone shuffling to the door, calling out that he was coming as soon as Luminous knocked on it, though it felt like it took forever until Alcaster finally opened it.

"Yes? Who are you what can I do for you?" he asked, opening the door only a little so as to not let the cold in.

"Alcaster I presume?" Phantom asked.

"Yes that's me, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Phantom, and these are my comrades Luminous and Mercedes. I just have a few questions for you concerning the History of Ossyria." Alcaster seemed like he was hesitant to invite them in, but ultimately opened the door for them to enter and locked it tight after they had entered.

"Why is it that you want to know about the History of Ossyria?" He asked wisely, leaning on his staff and looking each one of them in the eyes.

"We are actually trying to find out why the Black Wings are trying to destroy what books exist concerning the history of Ossyria." Luminous answered shortly.

"Destroying the books? That is strange, since all books can be recreated easily by speaking with those that are still alive. Though it they might be slightly different seeing as when they are re-written, not everything that existed before will be there. If they truly wanted to destroy history, they should be killing those that would remember." Alcaster explained. Mercedes tapped her lips as she thought when her eyes lit up with a suggestion.

"What if destroying the books isn't their primary objective? From what Lilin told Phantom, they were only destroying the history that pertained to us."

"Why would they do that? That would only lead to saying that The Mage was sealed." Phantom answered.

"What if there is something hidden in that history? Something along the lines of a reversal spell, and once they find a piece to it, they destroy the book." Luminous offered, making Alcaster stroke his long beard as he thought intently about it.

"That could explain it. However I wouldn't be able to know, personally. The only history that I ever read was about you and what you had done in the past. However my teacher possessed copies of the original books written just after The Mage's defeat. I keep his notes and those books in my laboratory."

"And where is that?" Mercedes asked eagerly.

"I've set up shop in the tower to Orbis." Alcaster replied cheerily, pulling on an old coat and his heavy fur boots.

"Don't you fret old fellow, we shall go there ourselves to see what it is that we can see, and if we find anything we'll bring it back here to you." Mercedes offered. Alcaster stopped in mid-action, pulling on one of the sleeves of his coat and then began painstakingly taking it off.

"Thank you young lady; these old bones can't take the cold like they used to. You'll find the Laboratory not far from the bottom of the tower marked over the door with a twin ring. Everything you need should be in there." Alcaster instructed, but didn't send them off until they had eaten a bowl of his famous Red Bean soup, which he always kept warm on the stove.

"I honestly can say that I have never had anything so delicious in my life." Phantom commented as they climbed the flights of stairs leading up the tower where strange white dust bunnies seemed to have made a home, wandering around and causing the three of them to sneeze and sniffle horribly. However when they had closed the door of the laboratory to stop an onslaught of the strange creatures they found everything had been destroyed. Glass beakers were strewn across the ground in shards, tables had been reduced to splinters and books had been torn in half while Black Wings soldiers were just getting ready to leave through a window.

Before they had a chance to command them to stop, the Black Wings Soldiers were already on the offensive, hurling powerful attack spells. Luminous stepped to the front, holding out his hand where a dome of hexagonal light exploded from him, pushing the attack spells to the side. Mercedes grabbed for her guns, small breezes wrapping around her arms and guns while ferns wrapped around her legs. From the guns, bolts wrapped in green light fizzed through the air, slamming into the wall with four of the assailants pinned there, dissipating into nothing but vapors. Mercedes looked down at her Bow Guns for a moment, preparing the same attack again so that she could get a better look at the power that surrounded them.

"MERCEDES!" Phantom called, sliding before her as ferns wrapped around his legs up to his hands. Quickly he reached into the card box on his hip, took a brief glance at it and hurled it forward as hard as he could. Red-orange light burst from the card, forming larger cards around the one and hurtled forward in a blazedof fiery light, slicing through the bodies of the soldiers, again turning them to vapors and leaving their clothes to flutter to the ground. Before Phantom had a chance to recover from the attack, he was rushed by one of the warriors that avoided his attack, slamming a shoulder in his gut and sending him flying back into Mercedes, both of them hitting the wall and temporarily being knocked out.

Luminous forced his staff forward, making the crystals in the staff glow as mana surged through them, the bright light of his Sylvan Lance raining down on the last soldier tearing him into vapors before turning to Phantom and Mercedes, patting their faces to wake them up. Once their heads stopped pounding, they began searching through the wreckage for any kind of book that might be useful, or even legible. Phantom fought off the urge to try and take something even when everything here would only fetch a tiny miniscule price at best. Luminous carefully sifted through the glass on the ground, picking up various books and journals trying to make sense of the bits and pieces that he would find.

"…_his words were spoken in truth and his power was pulled from pages; what does that mean?_" Luminous asked himself when he jumped, hearing Mercedes call that she had found a book still intact.

"It looks to be some sort of, journal." She said, thumbing through the pages, glancing at each one as she went, reading parts and portions here and there that made no sense whatsoever concerning them. It was mostly about how their power stemmed from the pages of the past and that all the Goddess ever wished was to ensure the safety of her children by hiding her power within words.

"Another book I was reading was similar to this one. It sounded as if it were speaking of me, but the way it read, it made it seem as though I learned everything from a book." Luminous added as he looked over the book from behind Mercedes.

"Same thing on this page light bulb; it says here that I was a 'man of few words but that all I ever dreamed of was set in stone, written on the pages of the past'. Have you _ever_ known me to be a man of few words?" Phantom asked, holding up the book that he had read from coughing slightly from the dust that drifted down from it.

"There was the occasion that Aria caught you trying to steal one of her pearl necklaces after spraying it with her perfume." Mercedes smiled, deviously looking over her shoulder at him.

"There has to be something that we can find. Otherwise all we've done is let Alcaster's Lab become a wasteland. What are we going to tell him?" Luminous asked.

"The truth." Mercedes answered, closing the journal and putting the leather strings she had pulled from around its covers back, tucking it into a knap sack and walking back out of the room; what more could they do though? It seemed that all the books that would lead them to something were either torn to shreds or missing large sections of pages, so there was really no other option. When Alcaster heard the news about his Laboratory, he only smiled sadly and nodded.

"That's alright, you did your best. I can put the Laboratory back together."

"This was the only book that managed to survive the wreckage." Mercedes responded, holding out the journal to him.

"Ah yes, the journal of my teacher: he was a smart man, often having me try to find things that he had hidden in books by decoding the texts that he had written." The Heroes looked at each other for a moment, turning back to Alcaster making him smile as an inquisitive air settled over them.

"Ah yes, my master was indeed a master of coding things but his greatest work, was hiding one of the twelve Seals of Ossyria within the books of history, the Seal of El Nath. He used your history in fact to keep it hidden. While some of the text concerning you may not quite portray you as you should be, it was a great way to hide said Seal. Rumors about his hiding it here spread like wildfire, an there were students of his that were younger than I at the time that wanted to try and crack his code, but could never come close. This was his ultimate work, and it took me… forever…" As Alcaster flipped though the book, he spoke slower and slower, his eyes telling them that something was seriously wrong as he began flipping through the pages faster and faster until he came to the end where a few pages had been torn out.

"What's wrong?"

"It's gone… the pages that my teacher hid the Seal in are gone! The Black Wings have the Seal!" Phantom grit his teeth hard and Mercedes slumped her poise.

"Do you think that there are any other books that would contain these Seals?" Luminous asked angrily, the crystals in his staff glowing slightly as his grip tightened on it. Alcaster thought, his thick white eyebrows pinching together periodically.

"There is only one other place that I think of; the Great Library in Ludibrim." Phantom thanked him, quickly leaving his house back for the Lumiere and making his way to the helm room when Mercedes grabbed his arm and held him back slightly.

"You do know that Ludibrum could be infested with Black Wings don't you? Clytemnestra will see us coming for miles before we can get close." Phantom jutted his bottom jaw out, taking a breath and pulled her fingers from around his arm before making his boyish grin splash across his face.

"Is that a tone of concern I hear in your voice Mercedes? Are _you_ worried for _me_?" Mercedes was left at a loss for words as Phantom simply kissed her fingers and went into the helm room, heading them for Ludibrum. But the comment that Phantom had made set her off center until she sat down in a nearby bench, holding her hand in the other deep in thought: yes she was always fond of Phantom, jealous even when she learned of his romance with Aria. Was this what humans called love? In her elfin language, there were several different words that translated as love, each meaning something different and for many levels of intensity. But in the human language, the word love could mean so many different things ranging from a mother's love for her children to the sacred love shared between lovers.

This was something that she could never fully express to herself or to Phantom since any kind of romance was mostly confined within her own race, and such feelings were looked down on if they were felt for a human. Just as her confusion was becoming thickest, she suddenly noticed Luminous standing against one of the support pillars just outside the Helm room. Mercedes then got up from the bench to find somewhere else where she could contemplate her feelings, passing by Luminous but stopping when he spoke softly to her, just above a whisper so that only she could hear over the dull roar of the engines.

"A woman's heart is a woman's heart. There is no controlling it, only following it; there is no reasoning with it, only listening to it; there is no denying it, only giving in to it." Mercedes looked back to him and was about to reprimand him for speaking to her in such a tone when he continued.

"Wise words Lucia once told a friend of hers; at least that's what we humans live by." He said, picking up his staff and walking off to absently admire everything within the ship that he could see. Mercedes smiled to herself as she pondered the thought and was about to go into the Helm room when Phantom came out of it, taking his hat off and brushing back his hair, almost bumping into her.

"Oh, sorry." He said, quickly going back to his room, shutting the door hard leaving Mercedes to gather herself and walk off through the ship. It seemed as though right now was not the best time to speak with him since he looked as though he received some angering news.

* * *

Raknarok finally had all of the things needed to perform the spell, mixing ingredients together which began to create a thick brown liquid that smelled horribly. As he mixed, he would run to a portion of the ground near where Firebolt swam, marking out a giant seal with arcane language characters all around the outer rim. Meanwhile Monsoon quietly sat next to Firebolt's pond, watching as his body slowly changed into the huge shark human hybrid she had seen in the forest so many times before until she could no longer stand it and went to talk to Rock once again.

"Tell me something Rock; there have been a few times that he transformed back into his previous form, but he could still breathe air. Why is it that now all of a sudden he can't?" Rock sighed, looking back at the journal that had the seal's dimensions after losing his place before continuing on.

"The spell that I used doesn't just allow him to hold a human form, it alters his genetic and physical make up. Before, he might have taken on a different visual form, but his internal organs were still that of a human, mainly being lungs. A shark doesn't have lungs and the only way that it can breathe is to have water passing over its gills." Before Rock could even finish the next few arcane characters, Monsoon once again interrupted him.

"So how was he able to breathe when he was a part of the Black Wings?" Rock breathed a hard breath, threads of electricity feeling over his body for a moment before calming and answering her question.

"Hawkeye could breathe because there was an apparatus wrapping around his head, carrying water over his gills from a tank he wore on his body. Now can you stop asking things or do you want me to not finish this seal?" he asked impatiently as Monsoon motioned for him to continue. There were still so many questions that she wanted to ask: Why was he dying? How did they know each other? What was the Shark Spirit? But these questions would only rise to be suppressed as she watched Rock work, finally giving up and walking back over the edge of Firebolt's pond who peeked his head out of the water slightly and studied her for a moment.

"What is it that you want to know?" he asked, trying to smile but the tight leathery skin of his shark-like form preventing him from making a friendly one.

"It's nothing Hawk."

"Irena, don't lie to me, I can see it in your eyes." Monsoon sighed, sitting down on the ground, sifting through the questions she wanted to ask before beginning.

"What is this Shark Spirit that you two were was talking about before?"

"Ah yes, the Shark Spirit. Long before I faced Raknarock, before I was known and Hawkeye, my name was Sunil. To put it bluntly, I was the odd one in my shiver since I was the only one that had the ability to create electricity from by body, shocking our meal so the others could move in and eat, me being at the bottom of the food chain. I became fed up with it one day since I could never seem to find any favor with the leader, so I left in search of power so overthrow him. In my travels away from them, I found the Shark Spirit shrine far out in the deepest part of the oceans. It was simple to get the Spirit to come out, but once I did, I used my power to subdue him and forcefully merged him with my body thus making me become a legendary beast of the oceans that all other sharks feared and respected: Thunder Shark."

"And how did you come to know Rock?" Monsoon asked making Firebolt smile.

"The first time that I met him was fifty years ago: He was just an ambitious teenager at the time, coming into my lair to defeat me and take the Shark Spirit from me, since that what any human who had come into my lair was seeking. However he defeated me after I made a costly mistake in not only my frustration, but also in my underestimation of his resourcefulness. Apparently not long afterwards, Eleanor the Black Witch resurrected me and sent me back in time where I was made into what I am now and suppressed my memories." For a moment, Firebolt dipped below the waters, swinging around a bit to gather his breath before coming back up to speak to Monsoon again.

"When I met Raknarock again, he just about tore the place apart and when The Mage sent Balrog and I to counter him, he grabbed onto my arm and we both were then flung into the future, just before Cygnus became Empress. Once there, he began working this humanizing spell on me, and teaching me how to live as a human for the next two years. After that is when he disappeared, leaving me a note saying that I had been given a chance to do some good and to make the most of it. That's when I came into Empresses services, training under Shinsoo who gave me the Thunder Sprite."

"And how did you just remember everything that you just told me?" Monsoon asked suspiciously, wondering if he ever truly forgot.

"I only remember because Rock filed in some of the blanks, helping to resurrect my memories. Once that was done, everything else just came to me." He answered, dipping under the water again to take a deeper breath. Monsoon was about to ask another question of him when Raknarok walked up to them, holding in his hand the completed potion that would transform his organs back into that of a human.

"Hawkeye, be sure and take a deep breath; it's ready." He called. Firebolt nodded, dipping under the water and breathing as deeply as he could, knowing that it would be some time before he would be able to breathe again, human or otherwise. Once he was sure that he had enough air, he breathed one last sigh and stepped out of the water quickly following Rock into the center of the circle where he drank down the potion, instantly feeling something beginning to happen on his interior. Rock ran to the outside of the circle, holding up his hand as a cloud of mana descended from his hand into the seal making it glow while he recited the spell needed.

Light from the seal itself began reaching up to Firebolt, coving his body from sight making the two of them on the outside have to cover their faces. Firebolt began to double over, clutching at his chest and stomach as the pain he felt drove him to the ground, every moment the pain feeling as though it doubled. Slowly the light around him began to shrink, making his body shrink as well when he felt his chest become tight, his head became light and panic began to creep into his mind as the air that he had saved up was running out and he needed to breathe. He tried to move back to the water, but the light held him in place as did the pain coursing through his body: he had to breathe and he had to breathe now!

The pressure kept building in his chest, the pain becoming excruciating and he still couldn't breathe when he felt the back of his throat open slightly, wheezing in a tiny breath. He tried hard to breathe through that tiny hole, remembering what it was that Rock had taught him before about human breathing, and with each breath it became easier and easier until he was finally able to stop his head from spinning. However there was still the pain that he had to deal with, reaching its most intense when he felt his back crack and his legs twist in ways he never remembered being possible, screaming out until the light broke away from him and revealed him once again in human form. Taking a deep breath, he looked to the skies and held up his hand, flexing it a few times before falling forward where he was caught by Monsoon and promptly fell asleep. She was glad Firebolt was now back in his human form permanently, but the dread of what Rock had said earlier still haunted her.

"How long will this spell last?" She asked, turning back to Rock as he walked over to them.

"I don't know. Since this spell stems from his life force which is gradually becoming weaker, I can't give you any explanation. Here, this is the recipe for the potion, and this is the written spell as well as the diagram of the seal." Rock muttered as he handed her two pieces of paper, the second of which falling through his hand and drifting to the ground as he began to disappear, his voice sounding boxed in.

"Well, it looks like it's time for me to leave. Tell Hawkeye I might see him around alright?" he said as he waved and disappeared into thin air to which Monsoon waved back. She wanted to get back to the camp, but right now, there was no moving Firebolt. Even if she was strong, she couldn't carry him all the way back to camp, and she couldn't leave to get help since Firebolt had latched onto her arm with his hand. The only other option was to wait for him to wake up, but this time she was sure that she wouldn't have to watch him since the nightmares would be gone, or at least so she hoped.

* * *

The Guardians were finally able to make it into Kerning City: despite being on Victoria and so near to Henesys, the city remained fairly untouched, having only the sound of traffic and the occasional passerby. Some Ninja of Olsen's classes, others eyeing them as they went by, no doubt thieves just itching for a chance to rip someone off.

"Did Wence happen to tell us where we would find this guy?" Dumia asked, checking her HUD for the tenth time in ten seconds to make sure she didn't step on anyone.

"No, not that I remember; all he said was that his name was Mandral." Latimer answered, his hand resting on the crossbow stock, ready to draw at anyone that might seem hostile towards them.

"You humans are so useless." A rude voice called as Dureau dropped down in the middle of them.

"And I suppose _you_ know where to find him?" Dumia asked through the external com.

"I can smell him. I made sure to remember the scent that hangs around them like a cloud." He said, walking in a seemingly random direction that led them towards the subway.

"Are you sure it's this way? I mean what do they even smell like?" Vondra asked, not getting a response from Dureau as he stopped for a moment and sniffed the air around him and began walking in the same direction again still leading them towards the subway stairs.

"How do you even know where to go Dureau? For all we know you could be…"

"I smell Black Wings as well. Black Magic always had a distinct smell of rancid mana and ashes, and it is coming from inside." He said in a low voice, glaring back at the others for a moment.

"You go on ahead guys, I'll meet you down there in a minute since my full size mech won't fit down there." Dumia called, putting her Mech into standby mode and pressing or flipping various switches and buttons.

"I think we'll wait. I want to see what you have up your sleeve. I heard the Checky's number one mechanic had been working on some new upgrades, and I want to see what yours is." Patricia called, crossing her arms, making Dureau growl in his throat.

"Oh hush! You'll get your chance in a minute." Vondra scolded, turning around to see what it was that Dumia had up her proverbial sleeve. As soon as she had put the Mech into low power mode, the bottom front of the cockpit pushed out and opened to the side revealing something folded beneath and attached the main chain gun. Dumia jumped to the ground, reaching into the opening and pulling on a bright yellow and black handle: pneumatic resistance pistons hissed as the object lowered and rolled out onto the ground.

With another pull of a handle, the object unfolded into a human sized mechanical suit, the Chain gun strapped to its back with a machine belt feeding into it from a box extending down the left leg. The chest and legs opened up, allowing Dumia to step in and close around her, a slight hissing sound coming from the suit as cushions inflated on the inside to make the suit conform to her body. Once she was inside, various lights and circuits on the arms and legs lit up, allowing her to move.

"Wow… now that's a fashion statement Sis." Vondra called as Dumia put a hand on her hip and on the back of her exposed head to take a model's pose.

"What about your head?" Acer asked as Dumia smiled: then entire upper body slid upwards over her head, while a plate came up from the back and closed down over the hole, as two glowing eyes lit up, making the entire plate look like a very thin head.

"This is pointless, I'm going on ahead." Dureau finally growled, walking quickly down the stairs with the others close behind.

"So, if the arms are higher than yours, how are you able to move them?" Patricia asked, noticing the obvious anatomical impossibility. When Dumia replied, her voice was deeper sounding as if she were talking through a can.

"It actually links with the nanites in my blood stream. My hands are actually on a couple stationary joy sticks so I don't flail around. It's almost like the system in the normal mech, but since I don't have as many systems to watch or chose between, I don't need the arm apparatus." She explained when she suddenly stopped, seeing that Dureau was standing and watching someone who had drawn a gun and holding it with his temple.

"Take your weapon down before I tear you apart." Dureau seethed through clenched teeth.

"Hey! What are you doing? He's with us." Latimer called, making the man turn his attention to them and point his weapon.

"And who are you five?"

"We were sent to help out someone." Acer replied, reaching behind him slightly reading to pull his cannon from across his back and fire.

"No, you can't have been sent! I asked for no backup! He would have sent some kind of advance note warning me of your coming." the man replied.

"Are you Mandral?" Latmier asked instantly making him point his weapon to him triggering Latimer to ready his crossbow.

"And what if I am? What would you know about it?"

"We were told that Starling was sent to investigate, but that you haven't heard from her for the past few days. Dude, we were sent to help." Dumia answered, reaching back slightly for the Chain gun on her back when he lowered his gun and holstered it.

"Sorry for that, but some people came through here a few days ago claiming they had come from the Silent Crusade to help Starling. Up to that point I had been getting hourly reports from her over the radio but once they came the reports stopped. I've tried looking for her myself, but there is something down there that gives me the creeps and I can't get passed it." Dureau chuckled to himself before continuing on, stepping to the tracks of the subway and looking down them with an almost excited disposition.

"Where was Starling's last reported position?" Dumia asked, already turning on her long range radar, scanning the tunnels for anything.

"She was in the construction area down Track 4A. Part of the tunnel collapsed recently and was being put back together." Acer walked over to Dureau, looking down the tracks in the same direction that he was but only seeing the dark of the tunnels.

"What is it?"

"A veil of fear; I'm surprised they still remember how to use it." Dureau laughed.

"A what?" Latimer asked.

"A veil of fear; I was the expert in that spell. It allowed us to create a battle line that only we Black Wings could cross. All others would only run in fear." He replied, jumping down on to the tracks, following the scent of Black Magic into the dark followed closely by the Guardians. Minutes passed eternally as time lost all meaning within the dark tunnels of the subway, the only comfort being the work lights scarcely spaced. Gradually the Guardians began feeling a well of fear settle into their minds but pushed it aside as they continued towards their intended target. However as they ventured further in, their fear only mounted making it harder and harder to push aside until their fear brought them all to a complete stop. Dureau on the other hand simply walked ahead before turning around to see their pale faces, resisting with all of their being the urge to turn and bolt.

"I knew coming with you was a good idea." He laughed, turning around and holding his mace forward as dark light emanated from it and swirled around it.

"You will be devoured!" he shouted, turning the mace parallel to the ground as red light curled from his back to the front, holding a bright light before him that began to draw everything before him towards the light, even the darkness that hung in the air like a curtain until it shattered, dissipating the fear that The Guardians felt.

"Now, can you fight?" Dureau growled before continuing on without waiting for them.

"He really gets on my nerves." Dumia sneered, continuing on. But as they went further, they began to hear voices, some of them talking in a language they couldn't understand. Sometimes it was nothing but squeaks or growls. Dumia looked at her HUD, scanning the area just around the corner for what was there, seeing 12 red dots appear on the radar.

"I'm not sure who's who, but there are twelve tangos spaced throughout the room just ahead." Dureau was itching to just rush into the room and kill all of them, but Dumia held him back counting down to them all from three, then rushing out into the open. Patricia held swung her staff up to guard herself, being met with a human rabbit hybrid that pushed her to the ground, squealing at her as she held him back before teleporting away and swinging her staff hard enough that there was a crunch of bones. Vondra rushed through to the back of the room, pinning one against the wall while another rushed her from behind.

In one move she kicked off the one in front of her, back flipping over the one behind her and landing on her knee. The two of them smashed into each other staying still for a moment before streaks of red and yellow light exploded from them, slashing through their bodies and slumping them to the ground. Latimer summoned Blaze to his side who roared loud enough that it stunned four of them long enough for him to take aim and pull the trigger on his crossbow, firing a bolt that shot through all four of them, leaving a glowing orb at the point of entry, detonating and throwing them back into Acer.

He pulled the trigger on his cannon, mana quickly gathering in the barrel and releasing in a loud blast that stopped them min mid air before he pulled the trigger again, firing a spread of bullets from the muzzle pinning each of them to the wall. Dumia ran to the last five, tossing each of them into the air with a hard, rocket powered punch when Dureau flashed to each of them, slamming his mace into their chest and bringing them back down to the ground.

"Perhaps that wasn't the best idea, seeing as we needed to ask them where Starling was." Vondra commented.

"We did them a favor." Patricia answered, her face and whole person looking pale and Dureau looking distraught.

"What do you mean?" Dumia asked, beginning to scan the room for any voids that might hold Starling.

"These hybrids, they were tormented human souls bound to bodies that weren't their own. They wanted to die." Patricia said sadly as she looked to the bodies that were around her while Latimer walked to her and put his arms around her for comfort. They all had heard stories of how Helen would have strange things similar to this happen to her.

"Who the hell would do something like this?"

"Someone with no soul himself Latimer." Dureau growled, getting up from his landing squat when they all heard a weak pounding on the back of a door further back in the room. Vondra went to it, drawing a dagger readying to attack when she pulled open the door to reveal Starling as she collapsed through the door.

"Oh, thank goodness you came." She said, sitting up and leaning against the wall.

"We were sent…"

"…by Wence when I didn't call in. I figured that was the case. I was sent here to check out the strange portal that appeared here not too long ago. When I went in, there was a creature inside playing a rock guitar. I tried asking what it wanted, but in nearly made me go deaf and in trying to get out I twisted my ankle pretty hard. When I did get out, they were waiting for me and it was all I could do to get into this room before they tore me apart, but not before they got my radio and my guns." Starling explained, crawling over to where her chromed pistols sat in the corner, pulling back the sliders to make sure they were still loaded.

"Is there anything that will reveal why these portals are appearing?" Acer asked.

"Word from the front line fighting Arkarium says that he has been periodically getting stronger. Every time he has, we've managed to correlate it with the appearances of these portals. I think that it has something to do with those creatures inside." Dureau pinched his brow, crossing his wings over himself while khyune letters glowed on them, at the same time the dark glow around his mace reappearing.

"Where can I find this portal?" Dureau asked with a seething grunt.

"Just up ahead." Starling pointed out, stretching out her leg revealing a large bruise covering her ankle and part of her shin. Patricia was about to tend to it when Starling stopped her and pointed towards the portal again.

"Go on, stopping Arkarium by any means is our first priority." She said. Reluctantly, Patricia left with the others, walking down the track until they came to a section of tunnel that glowed with a bluish green light: in the center of that glow was a swirl of the same light surrounded by sharp rocks that appeared to have made a small golem. Dureau's grip tightened around his mace as he charged at it with help from his wings: Patricia teleported after him as fast as she could to stop him from destroying the portal when he disappeared in a flash. All of them looked at each other for a short moment when Dureau came flying backwards out of the portal, tumbling on the ground.

"He will perish!" he growled, his feet slipping on the ground as he charged forward again through the portal. Patricia was the next to go inside, seeing the creature that Starling had told them about: it looked to me a man dressed in black with red circuit-like light running all over its body. Before Patricia could fully dodge the hazy image of the creature rushing at her, she felt some kind of power hit her making black threads of electricity dance on her body, unable to move for a few moments. Blaze and Latimer were the next to come through the portal, however they too were thrown back through the portal just as Vondra came rushing through.

Quickly she moved left and right as fast as she could to avoid being hit by whirlwinds that came from the creature after it had spun its rock guitar and slammed down on the strings hard. Acer and Dumia were the last to come through, but they were thrown into the air by the whirlwinds: Dumia let her body go limp as the suit took over, righting her and allowing her to rush forward slamming into the ground where the creature once stood, only to be thrown back when a corkscrew of blue light hit her.

Acer somehow managed to find which way was which and righted himself, pulling the trigger on his cannon and using the kickback to force him in the creature's direction, swinging the cannon like a hammer. The impact on the ground threw the creature back, allowing Dureau the time needed to flash in via his Soul Lock, only to be blocked when the creature held up its guitar and blocked his swing.

"You will not get the better of me again!" Dureau growled, rocketing up into the air with a push of his wings, bringing down his mace once more while a cloud of Ageis rose around it like the head of a beast that barely missed but moved the creature into the oncoming path of Patricia who caught him off guard. Her Drag Chain wrapped around his body, pulling him towards her so fast that his guitar was left behind.

However when the chains had dissipated he was stopped in mid air first by Patricia's Lightning Fence and then by Vondra's elaborate Bloody Storm, slashing across the beast's chest multiple times before throwing him back into the wall. An ethereal growl came from the beast as he rushed forward for his guitar, but just as he was about to reach it, Blaze and Latimer slammed into him, throwing him against a stair well before he was pinned there by a hail of bolts. The creature was just pulling free when Acer ran up in front of him creating a drill bullet from the barrel and when it was launched, the creature just managed to move out of the way and avoid being hit.

Dureau blazed past Acer with his mace hissing from all the Agies being forced through it, but was stopped when the creature held up its hand and caught the mace in mid swing, glaring at him when a blast of black light exploded at his feet and pushed Dureau back hard. Latimer and Acer tried to rush forward and pin him back, but the creature's guitar flew past them into his hands, both of them being driven back when a corkscrew of air slammed into them.

"You all think that I can be defeated so easily? I have yet to show you what I am truly capable of." He said through an ethereal tone, holding out his hand and catching a wire that shot up from the ground, plugging it into the guitar. The guitar began to glow bright blue, making the strings vibrate as the glow reached down the wire into the ground, birthing an enormous amplifier and speakers from the ground, humming loudly as they awaited their cue to blast them all away with a wall of sound.

"This is where you will suffer!" the creature said, reaching its fingers around the neck and slamming his right hand across the strings hard enough that the sound waves exploding from the speakers threw them all back against the back wall. They all reached for their ears, pressing them closed as hard as they could, but even then it did nothing as the creature reached to a knob on the guitar and made it even louder.

"SHUT OFF ALL AUDIO INPUT!" Dumia shouted, the inside of her suit becoming quite and only the armor buzzing as the sound hit it.

"Computer, redirect all available power to legs and arms!"

"Warning; air circulation system will be shut down to use power."

"Do it, open the vent and disable the filters. I'll be fine for a bit." Beeps and clicks sounded and a picture of her suit came up on her HUD, showing the power redistribution across the suit.

"Power redirection complete; Time until carbon dioxide levels become toxic: 10 minutes."

"That's plenty of time!" Dumia shouted, the mech reaching back, grabbing the chain gun and pulling the trigger, making the ends of the barrels erupt into a droning of flames and bullets that pelted the amplifier with knife-like force. The creature played harder on the guitar, making Dumia begin to slide back from her position but still she kept the trigger held down, sparks and flames flaring from the disintegrating amp. At last the amplifier could no longer support the abuse and exploded in a hail of sparks, finally letting everyone that was pinned free; Dureau rubbed his ears for a moment before rushing to the creature, using the Soul Lock to slam into the creature hard enough that the wall was behind it cracked and caved.

Threads of dark lightning felt all over the mace as he pulled his arm back as far as possible, striking him so hard that a streak of dark Agies hung in the air after his swing. But Dureau continued his assault, streaks of dark Agies pounding away at the creature until finally he was pushed through the wall. Once again he held his arm back as far as it would go as the Ageis flared into a dark red double scythe, spinning in a blur of blades making a wind begin to surround him.

"NEVER anger me!" he growled, swinging so hard that it became invisible. The creature dropped his guitar to the ground, each of the strings breaking as the creature dissipated into a cloud of black vapors.

"That's all that was?! All that for just a cloud of vapors?" Dumia shouted, being sure to hold the end of her gun away from the others while the red hot glow of the barrels dissipated.

"I doubt these portals have anything to do with the creature within them. The Black Wings would never make anything so simple." Dureau answered, somewhat disappointed himself that something so easy could have given him so much trouble.

"So, it's the portal themselves that is the thing we need to destroy?" Vondra asked as Dureau shook his head.

"That is still too simple. If Arkarium is the one setting these up, then there is far more to these portals than the portal itself or the creature within. If we are to find out anything about these, we must capture one of the Black Wings and interrogate them." Dureau said in a commanding tone, holstering his Mace and walking back towards the area that would lead them out of this place.

"When did we become such a force that we kill before trying to keep the peace?" Patricia asked, holding up her hands and noting that there were small blood stains on them, until Latimer came to her and began wiping away the blood.

"Listen, these are the kind of times that we can't afford to ask who is redeemable and who isn't. There is only our side, and their side. Our parents defeated the Black Mage once, and they only had to kill when it was needed. But now the Black Wings are back and they aren't going to stop for us just because we ask them to, they've already proven that. We aren't our folks, and we don't have a power they have."

"So, it's killed or be killed? Is that what you're saying?" Patricia asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"He means that we can't afford hesitation." Dumia answered after retracting her headgear.

"_There is always another way._" Patricia thought, following after the others to return to the Silent Crusade officer, picking up Starling who had limped her way a good distance before they came back.

* * *

Using the Light Bending panels on the underside of the ship, Phantom and the others slipped past Ereve to Ludibrum. The Lumiere was brought close to the portion of the tower where the Library was kept, and jumped through a window just outside of its entrance: a large scholastic owl resting one wing on a book, with a door in its body. However when they went inside, it not only smelled of ink and paper, but also of ashes and something else, something that was familiar yet just out of reach.

Mercedes looked over at Phantom, noticing that his entire being was tense, something that she had never seen in him before as well as anger radiating from his body like heat. She had tried asking him what it was that bothered him, but his answers were always short and heated, leaving her wondering what could possibly have him so riled up. Upon entering, a stocky man wearing a white shirt, brown pants held up by suspenders and thick round glasses walked up to them.

"How can I help you today?" he asked, his tone sounding a bit odd.

"We came here in search of history books concerning Ossyria." Phantom answered shortly. The man slowly turned his head to him, tilting his head to the side slightly as if studying him and then turned around, holding his hand out towards a section of the Library.

"Right this way. I will take you to the area myself." the man almost sounded as if he were reading a script or had been told to say something, walking with overly deliberate steps. Their guide brought them to an aisle of books at the end of which was a dark room.

"Down there is where you will find the books you seek." He instructed, turning and walking down another way with the same deliberate steps.

"Is something wrong with him?" Luminous asked, turning to Mercedes and Phantom who were already walking down the aisle. Phantom huffed, turning back slightly as they walked.

"It doesn't matter, we just need to find…" but when they got to the room, all the books that were in the room had been knocked to the floor in a pile and burned to a crisp: nothing was left except ashes.

"Now what do we do?" Mercedes asked, picking up a book which disintegrated in her hands leaving only charcoal stains.

"There's nothing left. There is nothing that we can do but go back to…" something tingled on the back of Phantom's neck, making him duck to the right and avoid the man that had led them to the area with a very sharp knife in his hand.

"You are the one that she loved! And you were left unscathed!" the man shouted, coming after Phantom once again with the knife. Mercedes reached out to try and stop him but he man turned around quickly, slicing open her palm and spraying her blood over a few of the books that were around them. She reeled back, noticing that Luminous was on the ground grabbing at his shoulder healing a wound, the sleeve turning a dark crimson red. All Phantom could do was back away, avoiding or blocking the swings of the knife when he tripped over a pile of books and knocked the air out of him when he hit the ground.

"You were the real target, but you were late in getting to the palace and once you did you were too late! I'm surprised that you turned out to be such a coward! This time I'll get it right!" the man shouted raising his hand high to bring it down on him when the light shining behind him made something looking over the man's shoulder shimmer. Phantom reached for his cane, driving the head of it through the image making the man scream, reel back and hold his head.

Without giving the man time to recoup, Phantom reached into his belt and pulled out a few cards, searching through them franticly until he found it: Perturber l'âme. With a grunt he hurled the card for him which took on the hazy shape of a ghoul, flying through the man and tearing from him what appeared to be a young boy glowing a dull blue color, pushing the man to the ground.

"Who are you?! What do you want with me!" Phantom demanded. But the boy simply smirked and disappeared into the thin air without another word. Soon after the man woke up, shaking his head as though he were shaking off a hit to the head.

"Where am I? Oh yes the Library. Please pardon my being on the floor, I must have dozed off when you came here. My name is Wiz and feel free to WHAT IN THE NAME OF NAME OF MINERVA HAPPENED TO THE BOOKS!" Wiz suddenly screamed, putting his hands to his head in disbelief.

"Someone burned them, we were coming to look at them but they were already like this." Luminous answered, but it was as of the man didn't hear them, walking over to the pile of charcoal and kneeling down to them, holding the scraps in his hands and crying over them as though it were a dying, well cared for pet.

"_What did that specter want with me? And why did it take over the Librarian here?_" Phantom asked himself, leading the others back to the ship and asking his information specialist to look up what had happened to Wiz as well as anything and anyone that would specialize in such things. Something about that ghost or spirit seemed so familiar, yet it was just out of his mental reach.

* * *

Clytemnestra placed the two elegant seals she had acquired next to the other within the hidden compartment of her palace room, bringing her count now to five. Just as she was closing the door, she felt the slight pulsing breeze once more, making her smile and turn to expect to see Yoshumari, but instead was met face to face with Dia, the Sovereign of the Seraphim.

"And who might you be?" She asked nonchalantly. Dia breathed a laugh and revealed her teeth with an alluring smile.

"Don't amuse yourself with playing cute; your mask is something that we Seraphim can see right through."

"Are you here to make sure I know of my defeat as well?" Clytemnestra asked when Yoshumari landed on the balcony, bowing slightly to Dia and then leaning against the doorway.

"No she isn't; that's my job." He smirked as Dia then walked over to him and gave him a serious expression.

"That is all well and good Dragon, but your threats and promises fall on deaf ears. There will be no one to stop me, not when I unlock the Master Cannon." Dia's eyes went wide, looking back to her and then looking back to Yoshumari.

"Son! Why are you not stopping her? She will destroy all of Ossyria!"

"No, she won't. She only thinks she will. But there are those who have the power and the will to watch you die. Not only that, but _she_ will see to it that you fail and that Ossyria will remain intact." Dia was confused, while Clytemnestra only laughed.

"Again, your threats remain unheard. Try what you will, but I am in control and there is nothing that you can do to stop me." Yoshumari chuckled in his throat, the dark Nalcana flaring around his hand in the shape of a bow and arrow, shooting one arrow that grazed her cheek and stuck into the wall through the apparatus.

"I'll see you around." he said cryptically, spreading his wings and flying off with Dia close behind.

"What do you mean that _she_ will ensure Clytemnestra fails?" she asked, looking back at her as she healed the small sliver cut in her cheek.

"Have you lost your sight mother? There are two souls within that body, but the one speaking is the weaker of the two and that is the one that does not belong in that body."

* * *

**This chapter features Raknarock, the main character from the story 'Legend of Cygus' by the Deviant Artist 'eatmydust64'**


	12. Chapter 11: Rock the Square

Chapter 11: Rock the Square

During his fight with the creature within the subways, Dureau forced himself to acknowledge his weakness, sending him into a furious training spree that would last for days on end. The Heroes too were made aware of their dulled senses, especially Phantom who was annoyed by the fact that he didn't notice when Luminous was attacked right behind him. The four of them could be heard in the forest just outside the camp, explosions or vibrations running through the ground as they trained. The Guardians however had been busy with keeping the camp safe, going on hunting trips to bring back food for those that had been trapped with them in this dimension and making sure that perimeter guard was changed smoothly.

"It's hard to believe what they were like at full power." Patricia noted, pointing her chin towards the sound of the Hero's furious training.

"What still has me confused is what those portals have to do with Arkarium gaining power just by their mere presence." Vondra added, resting her chin on her hands when Acer crossed his legs and threw them up onto the makeshift table they were sitting at, sipping on a cool glass of water.

"Who cares! We just need to beat the old geezer at his own game, and then it'll be easy." He said confidently.

"You say that now; Arkarium may be old, but he was more powerful than I. He still may be just as powerful if not more so." Dureau interrupted, making Acer choke and spit out the water that he had been swallowing.

"And what makes you so sure that I can't take him down?" Acer asked, still coughing a spitting out water. Dureau said nothing, simply walking away as Acer tried to get his attention time and time again only to be ignored while he went back to his sleeping quarters to change into some clothes that were so soaked with sweat. Mastema jumped up onto his cot and lay down, suddenly aware of Dureau changing into his trademark black attire after training for nearly 10 days straight, shaking her head to wake her from her trance.

"When was the last time you've eaten master?" she asked timidly, pulling away slightly when he sat down on the cot.

"The food of the humans is not really something that I eat." He said coldly, pulling on his boots then slinging his trench coat on, followed by the belt that held his mace.

"Yes but you must keep your strength up; training will increase your strength yes, but if you have no energy to sustain it, it will do you no good." Dureau looked down at his Agies on his left arm, glowing dimly at best.

"Then what am I to eat? The human food here makes me sick to my stomach."

"You could…"

"Never mind. I'll find something on my own." He grunted, turning to walk out the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping his from leaving.

"Please, eat something before you go anywhere." Dureau turned slightly to look at Mastema who had somehow managed to revert to her human form, holding in her hand a plate of something brown. It smelled delicious, making his mouth begin to water but he kept his composure, noticing that Mastema was keeping her face hidden away from him.

"What is this?" he asked.

"It's something that the humans call steak. It's made from an animal, but I asked one of the people here to teach me how to make it for myself." She answered, still trying to hide her face from him as best she could.

"And why are you offering this to me if this is your food?"

"You said that you hadn't eaten in at least three days: look, your Ageis is weak and you are weak. If you don't eat, you won't be able to accomplish your mission." Mastema flinched slightly, mentally kicking herself for such a lame answer when it was really more of a last ditch effort to be of some help to him, since she could do very little in her cat form. Dureau gave in to his body's groaning for food against his pride, picking one of the bigger looking cakes of meat and biting into it. The flavor that graced his pallet was incredible; he had never tasted anything like this making his eyes begin to glow and his demon nature to begin taking over. But he forced himself to remain calm and swallowed the bite he had taken.

"I agree with you Mastema. Thank you." He calmly said as he took the plate, turning and walking out the door leaving Mastema standing in the room, her face redder than ever but a bright smile across her face; she had helped him in some little way! However her joy was soon dashed when she found herself falling to the floor in her cat form once again. But still, she had helped him! Cheerfully she left the hut and followed after him, walking the streets of the camp that had become a village of sorts, mostly outlined by tents on the main 'roads'.

"Demon Slayer!" called a female voice. Dureau stopped his ravenous eathing, hiding the plate behind him and swallowing the mouthful of meat he had stuffed into his face, pulling his wings in tighter behind him thrumming in his throat before turning around and facing the woman with a hard glare.

"I told you before Mercedes, my name is Dureau." Mercedes smiled and nodded to him.

"Many apologies, Dureau. I received word that you went with the Guardians to attend to a beast within a portal in the subways of Kerning City?"

"Yes we did." Dureau's short answer was followed by Mercedes motioning for him to provide her with more information, but he gave her none walking away on his own business., especially that plate of steak cakes.

"Latimer told me how you were the one to deliver the final blow."

"And what is it to you? The creature is gone and…"

"I don't think that is the case Dureau." The comment made his stop mid stride and turn back to her again with a hard glare, swallowing down the last bit of meat from the plate.

"How is that possible? I felled him with this very mace." Dureau snapped, putting a hand to his mace on his belt.

"Someone from Kerning said that a creature matching the description of the one you defeated has taken control of the Kerning Square." Dureau turned back around and began walking away again, talking over his shoulder uninterestedly.

"What is it to me if humans can't 'shop'?"

"There might be some connection to the creature you defeated and the one here. There might even be some leads on the Black Wings." Mercedes called making him stop, his whole body becoming tense and uneasy just staring to the unnatural horizon. After a minute of silence she simply shook her head and turned to walk away.

"Luminous, Phantom and I will be near the main gate of the camp in an hour if you want to come, it's your choice." Dureau's jaw flexed as he clenched it time and time again; what did it matter to him if some humans couldn't shop. Most things that humans bought when they 'shopped' were useless anyway, however the intrigue of there being a connection between the creature that he killed and this one kept him from completely dismissing the notion altogether.

"Why don't you go?" Mastema asked gently, sitting down in front of him.

"This is no concern of mine." He replied shortly.

"I can see it in your eyes Master Dureau, you want to go. Besides this could offer you a chance to gain even more power than you already have and face Clytemnestra all the sooner." Dureau bared his teeth as his fangs became longer with the anger he felt.

"Clytemnestra is _NOT_ the Black Mage!"

"But she is a creation of his and she is just as dark as he was." Mastema urged. His lack of response left her feeling frustrated until she said the first thing that she could think of.

"I'll go with them and defeat this beast myself and I'll bring you any information that I find." She said loudly, only realizing what it was she said after it had left her lips while she trotted away.

"Mastema, what could you do in that form?" Dureau asked flatly, still not making eye contact with her.

"You'd be surprised at what I can do." Mastema said through grit teeth after she had stopped and turned around. Dureau sighed and shook his head.

"You may come, but you are to tend to yourself." He said, turning for the main entrance to the camp where Mercedes said that they would be waiting for him with Mastema trotting happily at his side. Maybe she couldn't get him to see her how she saw him, but perhaps helping him in his quest for revenge may prove the way into his heart once and for all that she had been seeking for some time.

* * *

_It had been some time since she remembered this feeling of walking without being in her own body, feeling as though she were awake when she knew she was asleep. Cygnus turned down one of the halls she recognized as a path leading to the dining hall in the Ereve Palace when again the feeling of a second person came, and yet it felt as if it were her._

_"Who's there?" the presence asked. Cygnus couldn't see anyone, but when the presence spoke she felt her own lips moving._

_"I think I've been here before: Are you me? Or am I, you?"_

_"I don't know. I feel like I should be you, but yet I know that I'm not you." the presence answered. Cygnus smiled, feeling herself walking down the familiar halls until she came to her room and stood before a mirror, again seeing that it was a slightly younger version of herself with platinum blond hair and a deep blue dress._

_"How can I be you, if we are two different people?" the presence asked._

_"Perhaps there are more than one of us, and because of that we are connected like this." Cygnus offered, feeling that the presence liked her answer._

_"Tell me; if I am another you, what am I like?" Cygnus thought for a few moments, feeling herself cross her arms and lean against a vanity beside the mirror._

_"Well, you are a woman who was crowned at a very early age, and Shinsoo has kept you alive after a life force binding contract with him when you became deathly ill."_

_"Was I ever abhorrently mean to anyone?" Cygnus smiled as she thought back over her childhood, remembering different instances when she rebelled against her mother's commands or against her father's wishes, the presence smiling the same as her, but the smile felt sad._

_"So many memories that we share, and yet none of them are mine." The presence said wistfully, images then passing through Cygnus' mind of looking out onto a dark world from behind glass, suspended in a thick liquid while mechanical hoses hung from her limbs suspended in that same liquid._

_"I'm sorry that you had such a life. Perhaps one day, your life can be mine." Cygnus said, feeling the presence smile._

_"I would like that very much. But it's him that I'm afraid of. I don't know if I have the power push him out."_

_"That will come with time. All you need to worry about is that you are not fully taken away from yourself." The presence smiled when Cygnus felt panicked, turning this way and that as whispers began to infiltrate their minds._

_"What's happening?!" Cygnus cried as the presence began running through the room until it came to what looked to be a large apparatus, turning around and letting it embrace her._

_"You have to leave! He's waking up! It was nice talking to you, and I'll be sure and contact you when I have the chance!" Cygnus felt as if she were being forced out, trying as hard as she could to stay._

_"Wait! What's your name?!" she called still barely hanging on to the edges of the presence's mind._

_"Clytemnestra!" she called, making Cygnus' eyes become wide as her grip was lost and shoved back into her own body,_ where she was abruptly awakened and sat up with a scream_. _Instantly Brilliance was at her side, taking off his gauntlets and putting his hands gently around her jaw, turning her head to him to try and calm her.

"Phoenix, look at me, just breathe." He instructed as Phoenix brought her breathing and heartbeat down to a calm level so that she could speak when Holocaust and Shadow both came into her tent.

"Was it another one of those dreams?" Holocaust asked; Cygnus rubbed the sleep from her eyes once she had calmed down and leaned against Brilliance, the adrenaline rush finally wearing off.

"This was much more than a dream Holocaust. This was something closer to a resonance: the person I was, felt as if it were another version of me that had grown up as an experiment and not as a loved daughter. She asked me what I was like as if she was trying to ready herself to enter into society."

"This sounds as if you are holding back the strangest element to this dream." Shadow acknowledged as Phoenix looked up to him.

"Yes. Towards the end of the dream it felt as if a third presence was awakening, causing her and I to become frightened as she ran to a large metal frame. I struggled to stay there and before I left, I asked her name." Phoenix skin became pale, pulling Brilliance's cloak around her shoulders for warmth.

"She told that he name was Clytemnestra." Shadow became serious, narrowing his eyes as he thought. How could that be? The presence that Black Phoenix was able to communicate with on a mental level might be another version of her from another world, but how could the presence that the Empress was communicating with be Clytemnestra?

"That's impossible: Clytemnestra wants to destroy all of Ossyria. How could the same woman want to know what you are?" Shadow asked sharply.

"I don't know, I just feel she doesn't want to; she is being forced aside so that someone else is taking control." Phoenix finished, sighing sadly feeling as though her own spirit were being the one oppressed by that second, unknown presence.

"Is there anyone that made it out of the Pocket that would know anything about this?" Shadow asked as he restlessly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Not that I know of, but there is one person that would know quite a bit on the inside of the dimension." She answered, getting out of the bed and beginning to dawn her leather armor.

"And how are we supposed to get too said person?" Holocaust asked unsure of what she meant when Phoenix came out of the tent tying the last of her bracer laces.

"One of the others within the crusade has said that The Guardians are able to go the Temple of Time which escaped the grasp of the Dream Fragments. Perhaps they would be able to take us there to find some way in getting the person." Just as she predicted, all of the original Guardians guided her and Brilliance to the hidden portal near the outskirts of Edelstein which took them straight to the Temple, where Phoenix was surprised to see that Rhinne was awake and able to move around asking her if contacting a certain person within the pocket was possible.

"That it is Empress. They can even come outside of that pocket for a short time to speak with you."

"Then I wish to speak with Yoshumari Korisuno." Phoenix announced. Rhinne nodded, holding her hand out to the connecting rift, feeling her way around the people that were inside until she felt Yoshumari's presence, connecting with him telepathically.

"Upon arriving here, who is here that would prevent us in visiting our children?" Helen asked.

"I agree. It's been a while since we've seen them. Rhinne, we're going through." Matthew announced. Just as they were about to go, Yoshumari came through as did a Seraphim dressed in white with blinding white wings.

"Yoshumari, it's good to see you again." Matthew called as he and the others went though, leaving him to speak with Phoenix.

"Were you the one that wanted to see me Empress?" Yoshumari asked, bowing slightly.

"Yes, I am. I have to ask you something regarding Clytemnestra." Yoshumari nodded, listening Phoenix recounted everything that was happening when she was able to communicate with Clytemnestra. The white Seraphim stepped closer, bowing slightly and lifting her wings as she did.

"Greetings to you Empress; I am Dia, the Sovereign of the Seraphim. Do you have a twin Sister?" she asked bluntly.

"Greetings to you as well Dia. No, I never had any siblings. I'm just curious to know why it is that I can communicate with her. There is however a third presence that she is afraid of."

"Because the one in control of her body is not the _true_ Clytemnestra." Yoshumari said bluntly. Phoenix tilted her head slightly, trying to wrap her mind around what he was saying.

"What do you mean Yoshumari?" She asked, making him take a breath, contemplating how it was that he was going to explain.

"Clytemnestra was indeed a creature created by the Black Mage, but in order for his plan to work, he needed to make sure and lull the people into a false sense of security. Clytemnestra is an exact clone of you Empress, which is why you have been able to communicate with your mind."

"But if that is the case, then how can I know that she isn't poisoning me to become some channel for Black Magic?!" Phoenix exclaimed.

"There is nothing to worry about Empress, she is not the one in control of her body: Yes, She may have the power of the Black Mage since she was conceived using the power of Black Magic, but to counter that she shares your caring soul. So even if she were to be released of this third presence, she would never maliciously use Black Magic, powerful though it may be."

"I thought that cloning copies a person, but that the clone could be someone completely different. How can she be an exact copy of the Empress?" Brilliance asked worriedly.

"Normally, cloning would create a person that looks the same, but could act completely different depending on how they were raised. Clytemnestra's cloning used spells and long term methods, splitting the Empress' Life Force anchor to the Life Stream enabling her to be copied right down to her last nuance." Dia narrowed her eyes as she listened to what Yoshumari was saying.

"Tell me Yoshumari, how is that you know all these things? Did you have a hand in making this abomination?" Dia asked harshly, her Nalcana flaring around her hand.

"Yes, I did. But what's done is done. There is no going back."

"Yoshumari! You know as well as I do what the laws of the land established long before Minerva or Corus were born say about a Life Stream Anchor!"

"Yes mother, I do. But she isn't the one that I have the quarrel with. She is merely a bystander, a road marker to my ultimate goal."

"And once you've avenged Eleanor, will you allow her to continue on?!"

"After I have accomplished what it is that I set out for, it doesn't matter what happens to her." Yoshumari answered coldly. Dia's Nalcana began to flare more intensely while Yoshumari's began to hum as well, reaching its energy out as though it were beginning to make a weapon when Phoenix stepped between them and broke the tense air.

"What are these Laws that Dia speaks of? Is there some sort of book that contains them?" She asked. Yoshumari looked away as Dia shook her head and calmed her Nalacana.

"The laws were given to the Seraphim by the Goddess Rhinne before Olde Sapp was created, and we have been the ones to make sure that said laws are kept. A Life Force anchor is your own personal tie to the Life Stream itself, so that when your life force no longer burns within you, it will return to the Life Stream via the Anchor. However there can only be one Anchor per Life Force, and what the Black Mage has done is against those laws. Therefore one of the Life Forces attached to the Anchor must be eliminated, otherwise the stability of the Life Stream could be compromised and the World Maple Tree will begin to die." Phoenix stepped back in shock, realizing what it meant to eliminate one of them: Either she or Clytemnestra would have to die to right what had happened.

"But how can you just kill her? She isn't the one who is trying to destroy all of Ossyria! Whoever that second presence is, the one in control of her is the one responsible. Doesn't she deserve a chance at a life of her own?!" Phoenix argued but Dia sadly shook her head, her Nalcana calming out of existence as she continued to explain.

"Unless you can perform some kind of miracle once she is no longer under the influence of this second presence, I'm afraid there is no other way." They all hung their heads, knowing that they would be killing someone who was innocent of all the deeds that she had been forced to do, and yet her death was the only reward that she would receive when Yoshumari perked up and smiled.

"There is a way. It will take some time, but I need to get in contact with Keminsolar."

"The Dragoness Lord of Life? How can she help her?" Dia asked.

"It isn't her I need, it's the power that was controlled by Saia, the Nine Spirits Dragon."

"Son, has the death of Eleanor truly made you mad? Saia has been dead for nearly twenty years." Yoshumari shook his head and waved his hand.

"No, I know Saia is dead; her offspring though is the one that has inherited her power. If I can convince Keminsolar that he is needed, then perhaps she can accelerate his training. Don't worry Empress, Clytemnestra _will_ live. Just give me some time, and your miracle will be provided."

* * *

She felt the light caress her face for the first time in centuries: the last time that she had seen light of any kind was just after the defeat of the Black Mage and she was pulled far below the surface of the world, away from everyone and everything that she knew. Why had she been taken to this dark place? She tried to move, but her arms felt heavy with something cold clamped on her wrists. She struggled to hold her hands into the light, seeing that a thick shackle and chains were on her arms. She thought for a moment feeling that her power was much greater in this place than she ever remembered, readying to send a burst of it through her wrists to break the shackles. But when she released the power, the chains glowed a bright white, running down the chains into the wall and shocking her hard enough that smoke trailed from her body once it had stopped.

"So, the little one is finally awake after all these years, is she?" a slightly deranged female voice asked, followed by heavy steps walking before a thick wooden door revealing a fine white skirt filling up the entirety of her small window. She moved closer to get a better look when a large eye appeared in the window.

"Chani, please, you'll frighten the poor thing." An eloquent male voice said, allowing her to take a breath in relief making the large eye disappear upwards only to reveal a human sized rooster, dressed in a fine suit and monocle. The sight made her jump back, tripping over her mass of blond curls and fall to the ground.

"She's awake?! Lemme see! Lemme see!" A chorus of children's voices said, when the face of a dilapidated jester appeared in her window, filling it up completely as it turned this way and that to try and get a better view when the ground began to shake. The sound of rock being split apart was soon followed by the jester being shot away from the door and sounding as if he and the other two had hit something far off.

"That's enough all of you!" This fourth voice sounded much more powerful, similar to a forced hissing growl. For a few moments there was silence at which she decided to try and stand again only to be scared back to the floor when a large glowing white eye filled the window and lit her tiny cell for a few moments, leaving just as soon as it came.

"Come come now Vellum, there is no need for such violence." The man rooster clucked.

"Be silent Von Bon, Remember that I was the one _he_ left as leader." She assumed the growling hiss belonged to this Vellum, and tried to stand once again to see out her window.

"And what gives you the right to boss us around! We're board! We want to go out and play like we used to!" the Jester whined. Vellum sounded as if he were slithering towards where the chorus of child's voices came from, making her only imagine that he was towering over them since this 'Vellum's' eye was much larger than the one called Chani.

"Listen Pierre; I was given the charge of keeping you three in line and the one given authority by _him_ to execute you should I see fit. You are running my patience dangerously thin… SO SHUT UP!" Vellum roared, so loud in fact the ground shook and small loose rocks rained down from the ceiling.

"Well I am the Crimson Queen; someone of my beauty need not fall under said rules." Chani said pompously. She could only imagine the look of Vellum turning to her as she heard him thrumming low in his throat. The silence made her want to know what was going on and so she quickly fumbled to the door and peered through the window to see that this Vellum was a giant serpent of some kind: his scales were black as obsidian, reaching all the way to his large head that housed his glowing white eyes and enormous forward horns. Below his black scaled head was his powerful looking jaw, clenched tight with sharp teeth running from one side of his mouth to the other.

"And you are just a dangerously close to annihilation as Pierre. After 6 centuries of listening to your constant whining, you best be thankful that I haven't lost my head yet!" With that, Vellum dove into the rocks again, taking nearly a minute for his entire body to slither past her door and into the hole he was crawling through. With hopelessness overtaking her body, she collapsed to the ground and stared up at the tiny bit of light that was shining down on her.

"_Why am I here?_" she thought when something caught her eye, floating in and out of the light that was above her and once it came closer, she noted that it was a leaf from her commandant, Mundus Arbor. But instead of being a vibrant green it was a bright red. She reached up to it, catching it in her hands and hearing a faint whisper coming from it.

"Alice, help me…"

* * *

Just after the Heroes left to attend to the matter in Kerning, the original Guardians came once again for a visit, checking in on their kids to see how they were doing since they were last able to visit. Since it was painfully obvious that the time they had to spend here within the rift was limited, their greetings and catch up had to be short.

"I trust the Cloaks we bestowed unto thee you have been useful?" Helen asked, when she noticed that Patricia wasn't wearing the Ebony Gaia of Shadows.

"To be honest, we've kept them clean and folded up in our tents. So far we haven't needed them." Vondra answered, covering her wrist with the bracelet that held the gem given to her by Olsen.

"Trust me; those cloaks will come in far more handy than you think." Jack called, crossing his arms and leaning against a tree.

"How? I can't even figure out how I'm even supposed to use mine." Dumia whined as Matthew set a hand on her shoulder.

"You can't figure out how you're supposed to use something if you keep it in storage all the time. Wear it, and _it_ will teach you. These cloaks were made by Minerva herself and are powerful weapons or tools."

"Even if you can't figure out how to use them, they are still an awesome heroic statement." Acer called, standing proudly off to the side as the breeze picked up the Emerald Gaia around his shoulders.

"That is only one of the many perks of these cloaks Acer." Jenny smiled as she looked to Patricia who huffed as though she were a middle teen.

"Well if we knew how exactly we're supposed to use them, then maybe we would."

"That _is_ one thing that we never told them." Olsen chuckled, getting up from his seat and walking further into the circle.

"Each of your cloaks has a certain trait that, when used correctly, will be far more useful than any weapon you will wield. Take for instance the Crimson Gaia I gave to Vondra; it has the ability to block any and all flames, even those of Horn Tail who from what I've come to understand could create the hottest flames in history. In addition to that ability, it can take on three forms that have a fire-like ability."

"How do you do that? From books I've read about your journey, it says that you were able to turn these into different weapons." Vondra asked, her interest in the cloaks now becoming more intense than ever, Olsen turning to her to answer the question.

"That is simple: you think it. These cloaks can take on any three forms and be used how you wish. The Gaia of Shadows holds the ability to deflect any kind of magic, The Golden Gaia can deflect any kind of physical attack, the Emerald Gaia will deflect any kind of earth based attack, and the Azure Gaia will block out any kind of water or wind. Again, any one of these can be used how you wish, just remember that the forms you make them take are permanent until you hand them to another." Vondra sat deep in thought for a moment before running back to her tent to get her Gaia cloak, wanting to try out this form morphing to create something she had been envisioning.

"But how am I supposed to use the Golden Gaia if I'm in the mech all the time?" Dumia asked as Matthew smiled.

"That is something that you will have to find out for yourself. The only limit you have on what is possible is only your knowledge and decisions to use it as you see fit. Eventually, I was able to use the cloak as a weapon itself. Speaking of weapons, have you been able to use the Crystal power that we gave you?"

"Not yet; Vondra used the crystal power once but she was so tired after just one attack that she couldn't move."

"What did she look like when she used that power?" Olsen asked.

"Her hair turned hot pink, and these weird pink flames engulfed her arms and daggers." Latimer explained, while Olsen and Helen looked at each other with a knowing look, chuckling to themselves knowing what it was that had happened to them when they had used their power when Jenny's face took on a grave look.

"That is what the Crystal power will do to you. You four can't use that power by itself, or else it will kill you." Jenny answered. Patricia massaged her mouth as she kept thinking through what Jenny could mean about not using the power by itself, remembering the stories Lillianne told about how they would mix the Crystal power with their mana while they were still learning how to use their power.

"So then how should we use it?" she asked.

"Mix it with your mana, don't use it straight. That and practice; with time you'll be able to use more of it. If you use it straight over and over again, your body is going to be pushed so far into a state of overdrive that your body will begin to break down."

"Am I gonna be ok?" Vondra asked, returning with the cloak in hand.

"Verily, however be sure to refrain from doing it again." Helen responded with a smile when she began to become transparent, as well as the other five quickly disappearing from view as they were no longer able to stay within the fragment's realm. With new insight on the Gaia Cloaks, the rest of them ran to get them, trying to think of what weapons or tools they could create when Wence showed up again.

"Guardians, I hope that I'm not interrupting your admiration of new articles of clothes." Acer laughed, but was inwardly annoyed that his imagination had been interrupted, especially when was thinking of an excellent idea for his first cloak form.

"No not really. Has anything come up about the portal that we took care of?"

"Not yet. Starling was sent to check out another portal that appeared near Perion; I'm just waiting for her report."

"That won't be needed." A strong voice called, revealing that it was Yoshumari grandly gliding in.

"At what makes you say that? You may be a high ranking officer within the Crusade, but that doesn't mean you bypass the chain of command."

"I didn't: Starling reported to me after her sweep of the Perion, as did Lora and Crow. I was coming to you with a report when something caught my eye about the location of these portals." Yoshumari reached into his coat and pulled out a folder containing a few pages that he handed to Wence. He looked at it for a few moments, reading over the lines of text on the pages when his eyes almost looked as though they would bulge from his head.

"What? What's wrong?" Dumia asked and Yoshumari answered.

"I did some research with the appearance of the portals, what creatures were inside, and what creatures the Black Mage had experimented with in the past."

"How do you know that?" Wence asked, his voice having a hostile tone in his voice.

"I was undercover with the Black Wings for nearly a year, remember? I had plenty of time to search through The Mage's notes and memorized each and every scribble that he made regarding those creatures. I don't know exactly what they have to do with these portals, but each of the creatures within them are skew versions of the ones that existed before."

"I see. In any case, we are short on capable warriors to deal with these portals, and all of the ones we would send are busy engaging Arkarium at the Temple of Time. The Silent Crusade needs you once again to engage the creature with the portal of Perion." Patricia was just about to go ready supplies when she stopped and turned back to Wence.

"What about the other portals all over the world that are causing the same thing to be happening?"

"There are others, however we think that taking care of them in the order to which they appeared would be the best way to eliminate them and weaken Arkarium's assault." Patricia nodded, going back to preparing for the trip as Wence turned back to Yoshumari.

"Next time you think you have something like this, come to me first." Yoshumari snickered and shook his head, lifting his wings readying to fly away before looking him in the eye.

"I don't care about rank; all I care about is getting the justice Eleanor deserves."

* * *

Getting into Kerning was easy enough, especially when they were using Phantom's ship to slip by the creatures of Clytemnestra and into Kerning, setting down near the middle of the city just outside of a section of the city marked with a large lighted sigh saying 'Kerning Square'.

"What exactly are we after here?" Dureau asked, jumping down from the ship, but landing with a whisper while Mastema quickly trotted down the gangplank to his side.

"We're after a creature that's barricaded itself in the top floor of the mall. For some reason it's been taking every bit of electronics that it can get its hands on." Phantom answered. Dureau clenched his jaw, walking forward with deliberate steps while the others followed behind, entering into the large building where shiny silver disks criss-crossed the floor, some of them being kicked over and crushed underfoot by Dureau.

"What are these things?" Luminous asked watching how some of the disks began rolling at a fast pace towards the stairs they were headed for.

"It doesn't matter. All we need to worry about is…" Dureau's sentence was cut short when a bright flash of light blinded him, making him reach to his face to rub the rainbows out of his sight when he felt the skin on his face and hands sear with pain.

"Don't let the flashes hit you!" Mercedes called, grabbing Phantom's and Dureau's hand leading them both to a place away from the disks as their flashes of light left scorches on the ground everywhere. Mercedes tried ducking in and out of their position and firing off bolts, but each of her shots would either miss or hit only one target out of hundreds of the disks.

"There's no way I'll be able to get them like this." Mercedes exclaimed, until Luminous came down from where he had jumped to, slamming his staff hard onto the ground making a sphere of hexagonal light blow away the disks, breaking most of them in half while others where only cracked, but that was enough to make them useless.

"Then let someone who can hit more than one take care of this!" Luminous growled darkly, holding his staff out as a ball of dark energy grew for a few moments, then began shooting out threads and bolts of dark magic tracing lines of soot along the ground where they felt, destroying every disk that was unfortunate enough to be caught in its wake.

"Come on, we can use this to get to the next floor!" Phantom called, grabbing Dureau's sleeve and leading him up the stairs while Luminous fought off the disks, making his way to the stairs and up with the others where they rested for a moment while Dureau used his Agies to heal his burnt skin. Carefully they exited onto the next floor, looking around for what might be here, but when they saw nothing they walked out into the open and casually walked for the next set of stairs when something hit Luminous in the head. It wasn't hard; in fact it was more playful than anything, looking down to see that it was a stuffed plush toy.

The four of them looked around to see if anyone was there who had thrown it, but no one was seen until another stuffed animal hit Phantom and Mercedes in the head. They tried to ignore it, but the next one that hit was no longer playing, this time it actually hurt. Turning to where it had come from, Phantom saw that it was a wall of charging claw machines, the slots where one would grab their prize glowing an odd blue color. Quickly he reached for a card on his hip, glancing at it before holding it face forward to them. Mana flowed from his arm into the card as it glowed while a hurricane of cards erupted from it, slicing through the machines as though they were sharp knives. When the cards had settled and dissipated into mana, Phantom put the card away as each of the machines stopped, cut lines appearing as orange lights in their chassis.

Phantom turned away smugly until he was caught in an explosion that carried him directly into Mercedes, the two of them tumbling over and over on the ground. Luminous turned back to the other machines and saw that they too were becoming ready to explode, quickly crossing his arms before him as the crystals in his staff glowed furiously. With a hard thrust, he uncrossed his arms as he once again called on the dome of hexagonal light, pushing all the machines far away from them, their explosions leaving them unscathed. After the explosion that sent them flying, Mercedes pushed off whatever it was that she was laying on, but finding that there was something wrapped firmly around her waist and preventing her from getting up. To her surprise she saw that it was Phantom's arms and with a little more effort, managed to pull free of them, helping Phantom to his feet.

"Are you alright?" She asked as Phantom brushed himself off.

"Quite." His short answer held a tinge of irritation, but Mercedes felt a bit of embarrassment in what had just happened, hoping that it didn't show in her face as she quickly pushed the incident aside, following after the others as they ascended the stairs to the next floor. However once there, all of them save for Dureau were overcome by huge clouds of sweet smelling perfumes, clutching at their throats and coughing as they tried to breathe with no luck. Dureau only shook his head, walking out before them all and holding his mace forward as a ball of light shone on the front of it, sucking in the cloud of perfumes surrounding them and obliterating it, clearing the floor so that the others could breathe. Mastema was the first to recover from her coughing, jumping up onto Dureau's shoulder with a curious purr.

"What was that?"

"It doesn't concern us, we have to keep moving." He answered, turning to find the next set of stair that would take him up, when he heard something rolling across the floor. Luminous turned to see what it was, only to find that it was an elegant looking glass bottle. Upon trying to pick it up, he was surprised to find that the liquid inside sprayed itself like a cloud creature and breathed into his face a haze of powerful perfume making him stumble back, clutching at his throat. Mercedes lowered her bow gun at the creature but hitting nothing as the arrow passed through the creature's body, sticking into the ground behind it. She tried again with a more powerful Piercing Hail arrow, but they only temporarily put a hole through the creature's body and stuck into the ground again.

"It's a cloud, hit the thing where it's coming from!" Phantom called, throwing a card forward while holding his hand forward as large cards appeared around him, slicing through the bottle as well as a few of the others rolling around. However that proved to be a bad move when the bottles not only were cut in half but exploded into a cloud of perfume that was even bigger than before and blowing towards them like a cloud of smoke. Dureau quickly ran forward, grabbing Luminous' collar and pulled him back while Mastema jumped from his shoulder, landing just a bit before the cloud and began beating her small wings as hard as she could, creating a wind that would give the others enough time to get away.

"MASTEMA!" Dureau shouted, rushing to her with the aid of his Soul Lock, picking her up and rushing back to the stairs just as the cloud enveloped the landing. Mastema coughed a sneezed since her sense of smell was much more sensitive than the others, even that of Dureau.

"Don't ever do that again." He scolded, holding her close to himself while running up the stairs to catch the others, making Mastema smile slightly; it may not be what she hoped for, but it was a start. Her happy moment was short lived as they crested the top stairs, seeing that the other three were already engaged in an intense battle against what appeared to be mannequins.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Phantom shouted, drawing the rapier from his cane and beating down the ones before him, bright violet light gathering at the hilt of his sword carrying the slice through multiple mannequins, collapsing them to the floor.

"Well at least now I can actually do some good!" Mercedes called, running forward and slamming one of her guns into the ground which tossed a few of them into the air and then used her second gun to fire a blast of arrows into them just as they were reaching the apex, then hurled to the side with Luminous' Sylvan Lance.

"This is the last floor, just shut it and move on!" Luminous commanded, swinging his staff hard enough that winds blew from his swing while his Sylvan lance shot out from behind him, and in the same swing slammed the end of his staff down. Solidified stones of dark energy gathered and slammed down onto the mannequins before them making an explosion of dark and light smoke obliterate them. Dureau flew though the smoke, holding back his mace as far as he could as a scythe cut through the line of Mannequins with medical precision.

Mastema looked behind them, seeing another of the statues come running at them from behind and leapt from Dureau's back, raking her claws through the 'flesh' of the mannequin before jumping off that mannequin for another that was trying to grab at Dureau. Luminous appeared just ahead of him, sweeping his staff in a wide arch to clear the smoke but was taken off guard by a wall of mannequins, throwing him to the ground and hitting him over and over with blasts of magic, making him jolt from side to side. Phantom quickly ran forward, hurling his 'Haze Knight' card, sweeping the huge sword through the pile on top of Luminous to free him.

Mercedes took a wide stance, ferns wrapping around her legs as the orbs on her bows glowed brighter while winds curled around them. She rushed forward, firing blindly through the smoke where she had last seen a small platoon of them when she heard a loud shout, stopping her onslaught as sounds of battle came from within the smoke until it was cleared with a gentle breeze. It revealing Dureau and Phantom standing in the midst of the carnage: Phantom was fine, but Dureau's right harm hung at his side with an arrow in his bicep and shoulder.

"Dureau, I'm sorry…"

"Don't let it happen again." He interrupted, pulling the arrow from his flesh and tossing it to the side, flexing his arm slightly while his Agies healed the wounds over.

"Is that where the creature is?" Luminous asked, tilting his head towards a door where wires decorated the jam, pulsing with power and running into the door.

"It has to be. This is the last floor and I'm not going to waste my time any more than I already have." Dureau growled, rolling his shoulder to get the last bit of soreness out of it before walking forward.

"Wait, from what I've come to understand, you've faced this creature before. Is there any kind of insight that you can give us?" Phantom asked, running to catch up with him.

"Just make sure to get his guitar away from him." he replied flatly, looking up across the door seeing that bright blue letters hung across it saying 'Lair of The Rock Spirit'.

"That would explain the guitar." Mercedes said as they five of them walked through, taking a tense stance once they were in, seeing the entire floor was packed with stereos, wires and amplifiers when Luminous felt a tinge tickle within his chest.

"What's wrong?" Mastema asked, noticing Luminous' change.

"This Rock Spirit has one of my Aurora crystals. This beast will be harder to bring down than the one you faced." Luminous whispered, making Dureau all the more agitated.

"ROCK SPIRIT! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!"

"Oh I know you know that I'm here, but did you know that I knew that you would be coming for me? That was simple since I was the one that sent for you. I've long been a proprietor of any and everything that is rock: Rock and Roll, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, Soft Rock, Alternative. I am the one that inspired all of the famous artists in their music. But do they give me any credit?! NO! And so I have taken over this mall full of electronics and built a machine that will amplify my guitar to levels inaudible for your primitive ears to hear, but will still effect you! But I needed someone to test it on first. And seeing as how you are the acclaimed "Heroes of Ossyria", I will try it out on you!" Speakers popped and rang with feedback for a moment, when something hummed through the entire hall where they stood. Without realizing it, Phantom slowly drew his rapier and lunged for Mercedes, barely missing the skin of her waist as he forced himself to miss.

"Phantom! What are you…"

"It's not me!" Phantom yelled back, his entire body shaking against himself to keep from lunging after Mercedes again.

"See? That was easy; let's see what happens when I do this!" Mercedes found herself reaching for her bowguns, holding them up and taking aim at Luminous, while Luminous readied his sylvan lance to swing at Phantom.

"I'll have you kill each other, and then I'll move on to the ones who have claimed they were the ones that wrote the music that made them famous!" With a hard swing of her paw, Mastema detonated a large speaker vibrating next to her and released them from their fight to keep from hurting each other.

"NO! What are you doing?! It took me months to build that!" a voice yelled. Phantom smiled, sliding the sword back in his cane and turning to something that looked important, slamming the end of his cane into it making sparks fly as another component fizzled out.

"STOP IT!" Spirit called, as Luminous and Mercedes caught wind of what Phantom was doing and began smashing everything that they could see. Just as they were about to reach an area that seemed to be important for its operation, Mercedes and Luminous were hit with a wave of high pressure air knocking them into a tangle of wires, as Spirit appeared in the middle of the floor.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP!" Spirit shouted. Dureau said nothing as he rushed forward, slamming his shoulder into Spirit hard enough that he shot back into a wall when Dureau noticed a slight violet glow at the end of the guitar. Before Spirit had a chance to recover, Dureau rushed to him using the Spirit Lock when he was hurled back by a powerful wave of sound, catching himself in mid air with his wings. In another instant, Luminous teleported to Spirit in a flash of light only to be thrown back by the same powerful wave of sound. Phantom reached into his pocket and pulled a small deck of cards, looking through them until he had found the one he was looking for, depicting a faceless man holding a dagger while rushing forwards with six symbols all around him.

"_Here goes nothing._" He thought to himself, slapping the card into a holder on his left wrist, glowing for a moment as he reached for his cane, rushing forward in a streak of blue light and black feathers. Before Spirit had a chance to attack, Phantom unleashed the attack, striking Spirit six times quickly before rushing back in the same burst of blue light.

"HIT HIM NOW WHILE HE'S STUNNED!" Phantom commanded. Luminous and Dureau rushed forward, racing the arrows that Mercedes had fired, grabbing onto Spirit's shoulder and throwing him forward to meet them, the impact flipping backwards. Luminous stepped wide under Spirit while he was still in the air, swinging his staff straight up and hurling Spirit into the air where he was met with stones of dark energy that drove him back into the ground hard enough that he bounced. Dureau slammed the energy of his Barbed Lash at him, throwing him back towards Mercedes who rushed forward, planted her Bowgun in the ground and shot him into the air once more where she pummeled him with a cloud of arrows.

Phantom then leapt into the air above Spirit, changing out the cards on his wrist to something from a warrior: mana rose around his cane making it look to be a bastard sword, swinging hard and sending the creature back into the wall behind Luminous and Dureau. Spirit stayed there for a short time, but when a few wires relaxed, he tumbled to the ground and shakily pulled himself to his feet while holding out his hand as a wire rose to it.

"You think that you can defeat me so easily?" he growled. Dureau knew what was going to happen next and quickly began to rush for him, preventing what Spirit was preparing for when a purple flash went past him, beginning to attack Spirit. He wriggled and writhed as the flash ran everywhere across his body until he grabbed it and hurled it as hard as he could. Phantom just happened to be in the direction of the flash, catching it and finding that it was Mastema who had stopped him temporarily. Dureau grit his teeth hard rushing for Spirit with new resolve when he found himself being forced backwards by a hard wave of sound, along with Mercedes, Phantom and Luminous. All four of them struggled against it, but the harder they struggled the louder that Spirit played his Guitar, pressing them further and further into the wall making them all feel as though their ribs were being pressed flat.

Just when it felt like they were going to be squashed it stopped, replaced by sounds of an angry cat hissing and howling from the direction of Spirit. Mestema clawed and scratched as hard as she could, even hitting him with firecracker blasts of her own power until she would be struck and sent sliding across the ground only to run right back into battle. But Dureau could tell she was weakening: her power was beginning to fade as she fought, finally being grabbed by Spirit once again a hurled into a wall where a loud crack could be heard. Mercedes quickly ran to her while Dureau stood over Spirit as he panted on his hands and knees, frozen in pain from his wounds. With a dramatic swing of his arm, Dureau held his mace out, Ageis surrounding it and solidifying into a scythe. Just as he was ready to swing it through Spirit's body, he simply disappeared in a cloud of vapors leaving only his guitar behind allowing Luminous to pry the crystal from the head of the guitar.

"Dureau." Mercedes called, causing him to walk slowly back to Mastema where she lay bleeding in Mercedes lap, breathing shallow breathes.

"You fool." Dureau mumbled, holding out his hand over her as his Ageis glowed, seeping into her body and beginning to heal her wounds and broken bones. It would be some time before her wounds were healed completely but Dureau never stopped, even after they had returned to the small camp.

"Do you think he feels anything for her?" Mercedes asked, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg as she stood next to Phantom.

"I couldn't say. Demons are a strange race and I don't presume to know anything." Phantom replied, his voice sounding empty as though he were distracted.

"Why did you want to help us in defeating the Black Mage?" Mercedes asked, hoping that her tone wouldn't strike any sensitive nerves too hard.

"Aria."

"Do you still love her?" Mercedes pressed. Phantom smiled sadly, and nodded.

"Don't you think that you should at least make peace with her death? It's been over 600 years, and many things have changed." Phantom swallowed hard, his face becoming serious and his eyes becoming a mixture of sadness and rage.

"600 years may have passed in the world, by my wounds are still fresh: it's only been six months for me. We all had time pass us all by, but it did nothing to heal me." He growled, returning to the pod and hoisting him quickly to his ship where Mercedes watched from the ground.

"Poor girl..." Mir said softly, when Evan put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, she'll be alright. You need to hear what the Guardians are saying since this could affect our search as well." He urged turning Mir back to the small meeting they were having with Wence about the portal they had just dismantled.

"…just like battling two of them. It was easy enough, but much tougher than it should have been." Latimer finished. Wence put a hand to his mouth and nodded, looking over the folder that Yoshumari had given him.

"Thank you Latimer. I want you five to get some rest, since these battles are seemingly tougher than I first assumed. Tomorrow I would like you to go into Ludibrum and deal with the next newest portal. I will be sending Yoshumari and Starling with you to hopefully identify the purpose of these portals." Wence finished as the five of them split up, going their separate ways to find out the reports for the camp before going to bed.

"Does this mean that our search for whatever seals remain here in Ossyria will be hampered in any way?" Evan asked, but Wence shook his head.

"It doesn't appear that way. However I wouldn't relax just yet. Yoshumari has said that Clytemnestra now has five of the twelve seals in her possession." He answered.

"If memory serves right, then our search is over; Claudine had gathered seven of them before Ereve had come down." Mir interjected.

"What about the Pillars of time?" Wence asked, closing the folder in his hand and cradling it under his arm.

"Latimer has been guarding the last one, but thank Minerva Clytemnestra hasn't come after it yet." Evan answered.

"I think it may be due to the fact that she hasn't gone through all the stone's tracking spells yet." Mir continued, turning back to Wence who sighed, rocking his head and cracking his neck, putting a hand to the back of it when one of the pops was particularly hard.

"Alright. From what I've come to understand, the Princess Ashura was trapped here as well?"

"That she has, as was her mother's Contract dragon Tzarax. She's been learning battle tactics from the old Masters, or Advance Masters; she's a stubborn one as is insisting that she fight as well." Wence laughed and nodded, thanking them for their participation as they left to help with duties of the camp, looking back over the report that Yoshumari had given him; what could the portals possibly be used for if the creatures within them were stronger versions of ones that already existed?


	13. Chapter 12: Dangerous Paths, part 1

Chapter 12: Dangerous Paths, part 1

Clytemnestra's patience was beginning to wear thin as she held each of the Pillars of Time, each one only revealing the next in line within the collection she currently held. She almost wanted to take the bag and hurl it into a dark hole where no one would ever find it and leave it there to turn into dust! But doing so would mean that the Master Cannon would be useless to her since Ludibrum wouldn't move without them.

"Have your endeavors to find the remaining Pillar born any fruit?" Arkarium wheezed, quietly walking into the room where the Empress used to sleep, noq used by Clytemnestra as her personal resting chamber. Whispers faded into existence for a moment, hanging in the air like a thick fog until she turned to him and breathed to calm herself.

"No, I haven't been able to find the one that will lead me to the remaining Pillar. I doubt you came all this way Arkarium to ask me something so trivial though." Clytemnestra asked with a sneer making him smile under the mass of hair framing his mouth.

"My endeavor has been slow, no thanks to the pesky Silent Crusade Soldiers that interfere every time I am just about to break one of the layers."

"What of your precious Portals of Disruption? Haven't they made breaking the Barrier any easier as you hypothesized?" Clytemnestra asked with a sultry tone as Arkarium stroked his long beard, flipping the end of it as he reached its length.

"It seems the soldiers of the Silent Crusade stranded here have begun eliminating the creatures within my portals. I doubt they have found a way to destroy the actual portal, but with each creature they destroy it does become slightly harder." Clytemnestra nodded her head, her jaw flexing while she seemed to be deep in thought, absently rubbing at her temple.

"Have you had any more trouble with the other presence trying to take over?" Arkarium asked, making Clytemnestra smile darkly, pressing on her temple to ease a dull ache.

"Not recently. I think I have her too scared to try anything." She replied when a shadow leaned against the door jam and snickered, his wings lifted slightly and straddling the wall where he was standing.

"I wouldn't let your guard down just yet, your Majesty." Magnus crooned arrogantly, thinking back to when he had seen her walk the halls absently, without really seeming to be herself.

"She is too scared to do anything at this point. What have you been able to find Magnus?" Clytemnestra asked. Magnus only shook his head, gritting his teeth and telling himself that he would only need to put up with this a bit longer, and then _he_ would come and all would be made right.

"I have searched and searched all over this area, and I haven't been able to find one scrap of evidence. It's as if the precious 'Heroes' no longer exist." Clytemnestra smirked forebodingly, chuckling in her throat as she turned around and held her arms wide to the picture of the Empress that hung just above her bed.

"It seems that you far underestimate me Empress. I am the one that holds all the power that you once claimed to rule with!" She shouted wildly, her wide grin becoming almost unnatural to reveal her white teeth within.

"I know this may sound thick, but if you knew where the other Seals were, why did we activate the Dream Fragments in the first place, cutting ourselves off from Edelstein if we were just going to take them down again?" Magnus asked. Arkarium turned and looked to Clytemnestra, since that very thing was what he had been wondering for quite some time as well, but felt that such a question was not needed.

"Activating the Dream Fragments was merely a test of my power. Since The Mage was nothing but vapors, he had no need to worry about his body being torn apart by power absorption. I do, and since activating Dream Fragments on this scale required that I use a very large portion of power stored here in this frame, I wanted to test how my body would react to that much power. Now that I know this body can withstand it, the Master Cannon should be within my grasp." She smirked, leisurely clenching her fist for emphasis.

"A test? That's it? And here I thought that you had something up your sleeve." Orca chimed, leaning against the door opposite Magnus, filing down one of her nails that she had just redone after it had chipped.

"Orca, What have you been doing? Has your mission to find the leader of the Silent Crusade produced anything useful?" Clytemnestra asked with a sneer.

"I've been planning a way for us to get rid of three thorns in our side: Mercedes, Phantom, and the Empress Cygnus." She chuckled, blowing the dust off her nail before filing it once more.

"You've found the Empress?" Arkarium asked, raising one of his bushy eyebrows.

"That I have Old man. She did pretty well in hiding too. It took me nearly a full month before I was able to find anything on her. Turns out that she's the one leading the Silent Crusade, Black Phoenix and her chief knights to have been going by different names, which made it harder to find where they were."

"Where are they?" Clytemnestra demanded, but Orca shook her head and waved her finger back and forth.

"That will be my duty to get rid of them, your majesty. However they are in Edelstein at the moment, so getting to them will be a bit of a challenge without taking down the Dream Fragments." She said with a smirk.

"She has been a thorn to us ever since she has taken the throne: How do you intend to be rid us of her?" Magnus asked, interested to see if what this brat had planned would actually work, not that it really mattered to him.

"Well, Suu has been using his power to disembody himself and watch Phantom, making it so that his presence will bring him to Edelstein where his body is and where his power is the strongest, once Master Clytemnestra here takes down the Dream Fragments. I will be sending a note to Cygnus saying that there is someone that wants to speak with her in private in the Edelstein Gardens and once that happens, Suu will use Phantom to kill her, and then kill Phantom. Mercedes was a little more tricky, but I've sent her a letter saying that someone needs her help in Ludibrum where I have set up a trap for her." Orca explained happily, however her smile turned to uncertainty when Clytemnestra's face didn't light up with an approving smile.

"Do you have a contingency plan in case this little ambush of yours doesn't work?" She asked with a dark tone.

"No, but I'm sure I'll think of something If I need to."

"You overestimate yourself Orca, which is exactly what nearly killed Suu remember?" Arkarium hissed, finding himself pinned to the wall when Orca reached for his throat.

"THAT WAS THE RECHED DRAGON SHINSOO'S FAULT! IF HE HAD DIED AS HE SHOULD OF THEN SUU WOULDN'T BE IN THE STATE HE'S IN RIGHT NOW!" She shouted until Clytemnestra pulled her away from him and held her in place with a spell.

"That's enough Orca." she hissed, dark light seeming to emanate from her eyes making Orca shrink back and become quite subdued as she was set down.

"Put your plan into action Orca; Arkarium and Magnus will escort the Chaos Beasts into Edelstein to retrieve the remaining seals while I locate the final Pillar of Time. The era has come to begin the process of opening the Master Cannon."

* * *

Mercedes' comment on how Phantom should let Aria go really twisted his heart around his spine and left him feeling numb; how could she say something so insensitive? Nearly six months had passed from the time she was killed to the time that The Mage was sealed, and even when he came back from the temporal stream up to now it was just past seven months. In his frustration he decided that it was time to increase the kind of power he wielded, quickly guiding his ship to Ariant towards one of his many vaults kept around the world. As soon as his feet touched the sand and caught his first whiff of the desert air, memories came flooding back to him of his master Raven and the tragedy that made him into the man's student.

"It's been so long since I came back here. I almost feel guilty for not returning after I left." He said to himself, walking to the well hidden vault within a formation of rocks, surrounded by tall sand dunes: The only way that one could tell where this vault was located, was from the statue-like formation next to it. As Phantom walked into the cave, he tried to remember what the combination to this particular vault, wondering if he would have to break the lock like he did at his vault in Orbis. Much to his surprise and disappointment however the lock was already broken, most likely from rusting after 600 years.

Once inside though, salamanders and other creatures that had made this treasure room their home skittered everywhere. They didn't worry him though: the treasures here had most likely been long forgotten and were counted among the lost treasures of Ossyria. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the Queen's crown was still here, and even some of the other treasures that he had lifted from prominent families around the world. Perhaps then a new lock would be needed, but right now he was in search of the scrolls that would allow him to gain another portion of power, accelerating himself closer to his once high prowess. Another few minutes passed as he easily found the scrolls, laid them out on the ground, and absorbed the power they provided him with folding them up once again and placing them within the fine dresser that he had stolen from a rich trader's house.

"Well Raven, I think that I've done pretty well for myself." He said to the sands that had infiltrated the area, leaving the door cracked just enough so that the creatures could still get out and went back to his ship, feeling nostalgic as he directed Renault to fly the ship over Ariant for old time's sake. The town that he saw was nothing like the one that he had left all those years ago: buildings were broken or in dire need of repair all around the palace, but workers could be seen all over the city, rebuilding some of the buildings that had been broken down.

"_Maybe they need the Thief Phantom to help them._" he thought smugly to himself when he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around.

"Ah, Colette. Have you been able to find anything on what I asked?"

"Yes master Phantom. From what I was able to find out regarding what happened in Ludibrum apparently is not an isolated incident, and has been happening mostly where large amounts of books are being kept. It's called Spirit Possession and involves one using their soul to control another by 'moving in' so to speak. The person will sound the same, but they will act different and can't use the memories or knowledge of the person being possessed." Phantom nodded to this information, sighing slightly.

"I see; did you find if there was a way to prevent this from happening?" Colette sighed disappointedly and shook her head.

"The only ones that are able to fully prevent it effectively are the Priest and Priestess Mages since they have access to powerful sacred magic. There is one person that I heard of who might know a great deal about this in the Sleeping Wood that goes by the name 'Spiriteer'."

"Then that is where we shall go. Renault! To Victoria and the Sleeping Wood!" Phantom called, feeling the ship list slightly towards its new heading.

* * *

"How am I supposed to get any real world experience when I'm just sitting around here all the time guarding a bunch of over confident punks? I mean I know I'm a princess, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't to be stuck somewhere 'safe' all the time." Ashura whined, watching as Dumia loaded the last of the bullets into her Mech's arm.

"Look, Ashura. It's not that I don't want you to come. But what do you think your Mom would say when she found out that you'd been killed because you decided to come with us on one of our journeys?"

"That won't happen! I've been learning to fight from your grandparents while they're here in the camp ever since these Dream Fragments. They say that going back to El Nath would be too risky anyway with Clytemnestra where she is. Besides, you're kinda the leader of this bunch aren't you?" Ashura asked, almost sounding like she were whining. Dumia rubbed her forehead, running her fingers through her hair: this girl just didn't know when to give up did she?

"You know, I've been wondering; you formed a contract with Shinsoo recently; where is he anyway? The only one I've seen hanging around you in Tzarax."

"I don't know either. After the fall of Ereve, he just disappeared." After finally getting Ashura to stop pestering her, Dumia wrestled with herself on whether or not to let her come: she had been learning how to fight, yes, but Ashura was still far too inexperienced to deal with the creatures they were going to fight. Her own thoughts only gave her a headache and decided to try and find one of the others so they could talk about it when thunder clapped across the skies.

Dumia and Ashura both looked all around them, trying to figure out where it was the thunder was coming from when someone shouted to look at the horizon. For a moment, Dumia didn't see anything except for strange movement right were the water ended and the sky began until the 'normally' strange sky began peeling back, revealing the natural blue sky above them they all knew.

"What… what just happened?" Ashura asked, looking around.

"I think… the Dream Fragments were just turned off." Dumia answered, looking around and watching in awe as the sky was once again visible. But her attention was drawn to loud screeches coming from four large beasts taking off from Ereve, one of which looked to be a slightly different version of Shinsoo. Dumia quickly ran to her mech, cuing up the radio back to the Edelsein High Guard headquarters and putting on her headset.

"Strong Hold, this is Dumia of the Red Squad. Do you read me, over?" Snow fuzzed through her earpiece for a few long seconds until she cued the mic again.

"Strong Hold, is anyone there? This is Dumia of the Red Squad, please someone respond over." Snow fuzzed for a moment over her com when a distorted message came through.

"_Fiff if ferng fold, fay fufen foler, fear frayfee fu, fofer._" Excitedly Dumia messed with the channel dial to refine the signal and tried again.

"Strong Hold, this is Dumia of Red Squad, do you read me, over!"

"_Dumia?! Is that you?!_"

"Yes! This is Dumia! Is this Papa Bear?!"

"_That's an affirmative Trigger. It's good to hear from you again. What's going on over there? Ossyria just appeared again._"

"There's no time to explain Papa Bear: Four Heavies just took off from here and look as if their headed for Home Base, over."

"_Four heavies?! Crap! Thanks for the heads up Trigger! I'll get the squads rolling and get the Heavies ready to roll. Are you doing ok over there?_"

"CHECKY JUST GO! We'll have to time to catch up later!"

"_Roger that, Trigger, Papa Bear out!_" Dumia slumped down in the mech, unsure if she should be happy that she could contact the outside world, or worried that four huge creatures looked to be headed for Edelstein.

"Dumia? You ok in there?" Latimer's voice called.

"Yeah, just fine. I'm just not sure what we should do. Did you see those three things heading out of Ereve?"

"Yes I did, but even if we tried to leave now, there is nothing that we could do to try and catch them. We have our mission, so for now we'll just have to hope and trust that those back in Home Base will be able to handle what comes." Dumia nodded her understanding and was about to begin the startup sequence when a thought struck her.

"Hey, before we head out there's something that I need to ask your opinion on." Latimer stopped and turned back to her.

"Shoot."

"Well, Ashura wants to come along with us on this mission." Latimer stood there for a moment, until he shrugged his shoulders as though asking if there were more to what she was going to say.

"Ok, and that's a problem how?"

"DUDE! She's the Princess of… you know what, never mind. Ashura, get ready to roll outta here in a few minutes; we're leaving for Ludibrum." Ashura smiled broadly, running back to where her tent had been set up and grabbed the simple armor and tri-spear given to her by Dances with Balrog as a weapon. Latimer rounded up Vondra and Patricia telling them of their added guest and were just about to leave when something landed heavily behind them. Ashura felt something familiar about this presence and turned around to see Shinsoo standing proudly behind her.

"It's been some time since we last saw each other hasn't it Lady Ashura." Shinsoo asked, smiling down at her. Ashura smiled broadly, rushing to him and burying her fingers in his soft feathers while he lowered his head as though embracing her in return. Vondra chuckled to herself, putting a hand to her hip.

"Shinsoo, where have you been all this time?"

"I have actually been in Oldesta conversing with Keminsolar and Argaust." Latimer tilted his head in interest, slinging his crossbow over his back and calling Blaze to his side.

"Why were you talking to them?"

"I was asking as a dragon subject if they would be willing to help us in our plight against Clytemnestra. She may not be The Black Mage, but the power certainly exists and any help they could offer would be greatly appreciated." Dumia flipped switches in her Mech as she listened to his explaination, beginning the start-up sequence when she noted the power level: normally a Mecha's power supply would last nearly two weeks before it needed recharging, four if no fighting was done. However she managed to stretch what power she had to this point, and there wasn't even enough for the trip to Ludibrum.

"Sorry guys, I'm out of this fight. I need to get this thing back to the Edelstien base to change out the power core." she called, slumping into the back of her mecha's seat.

"don't worry Sis, I'll make sure her highness here doesn't get into too much trouble."

"I heard that Vondra!" Ashura shouted over her shoulder, making Vondra shrug her shoulders and chuckle, leading them to the edge of the camp where they mounted Shinsoo and disappeared into the skies for Ludibrum. Mercedes watched them intently as they left before her gaze fall back to Dumia, thinking back to her days as the freshly graduated Hero that Minerva had trained, seeing a lot of herself in Dumia since she became the natural leader of their group. She was just about to take a sip of a cool drink, when a strange reverse echo hummed in her head.

"_Your Majesty, can you hear me?_"

"Philius, is that you?"

"_Yes. There are a few things here in Ellul that you should come for, one of which I'm sure you will be glad to see_."

"What is it?" Mercedes thought in return, getting up from her seat and dawning her bowguns.

"_Just come. It will be a heart healing experience for you._" with that, the echo disappeared from her mind. Mercedes could only ponder what it was that she meant by being a 'heart healing experience', but since she hadn't been back to Ellul in some time. It would only be natural that she'd go and see how her subjects were doing since she had become significantly more powerful to possibly break the curse fully from those in the village. Standing with her feet together and her elbows out, she closed her eyes and folded her hand, pointing her index fingers straight up and disappeared in a blaze of bright, comforting green light.

* * *

"I sense that you have been using the dark and light sides of your powers intermittently." Beuwon commented as he touched the newest edition of the Master Aurora crystals to the ground and restarted the mine.

"That I have, though I will admit that I don't feel as if they have gotten any easier to control." Luminous responded, sitting with his legs tucked under him at the foot of Beuwon's platform.

"Indeed, it won't until you've learned how to initiate Equilibrium." Luminous tilted his head, squinting his eyes slightly trying to think his way through his master's words.

"And how does one do that? The Order of Light was specifically designed for magic of light."

"The stories that you've been told about the Order aren't complete. You were only told what it was that you needed to know at that time. Many years, decades even, before you came to the Order there was a master of the Order, the founder in fact who was selected by the Light Spirit itself to be its Transcendence, a mediator if you will to the people of Ossyria. This man was granted superior powers because of that and sought to dedicate his life to the study of Light Magic, creating the Order as a way to network with other mages and make advancements more quickly. However in his studies, he found that Light Magic in itself, while powerful, can be made even more so by balancing it with Dark Magic, namely Black Magic." Beuwon's voice became serious as he spoke, reaching for Luminous' staff and beginning to place the new crystal within the ring on its head, repositioning the other two crystals so that the power distribution would be balanced.

"You're speaking of Corus the Black Aren't you? He was the Transcendence of Light?! How did he fall so much that he was over taken by the Darkness?" Luminous asked, part of him shaking in excitement for a chance to learn how to make his dark power even more potent.

"Black Magic is not simply a set of spells; it is something that will change you as if it is alive. He tried to control it, but underestimated its power and began succumbing to it by not using his Light Magic for balance. By the time that he had studied it enough to wield, the Black Magic changed him too much and he abandoned the Light for the Dark." Beuwon waved his hand forward, hold Luminous' staff out to him.

"You must learn to find this balance between the two, and once you have perfected it, new and more powerful magic will be available to you." Beuwon said gravely. As luminous wrapped his hand around his staff, the surge of power flooding his body felt was overpowering for a moment until he realized that with this third crystal that he could now use some of his more powerful magic. Holding his hand forward, Luminous searched his mind for a certain spell, piecing it together after a few minutes and reciting it over in his head.

Light gathered in his palm, pulling in from every source of light around him until it was released in a horizontal pillar that melted a portion of the wall. Just as soon as he finished with the spell, a feeling of blood thirst came over him while a sick grin spread across his face and his right eye glowed brightly. Kneeling to the ground, he rammed his palm to the ground; all around him dark spears and chains exploded from the ground, tossing rocks they had moved into the air all around him.

"Luminous! Keep your head!" Bouwon called as Luminous began to shake while trying to regain control of himself until the glow of his eye died down and the shadow magic dissipated.

"This Shadow magic is so much stronger than Light and it takes over me so easily, how will I be able to know which is stronger?" Luminous asked, staring at his palm. Beuwon thought for a moment, flicking his wrist once he had figured out what he needed as a portion of the floor near him split apart and a pedestal rose from it having atop it a bracer of sorts with wings on the top: the right wing was made purely of pearl while the left was of onyx.

"Corus made this as a way to monitor the balance of power to ensure the Dark wouldn't over power the Light. However since he never used it, it was put away for storage." Beuwon said, walking over to it and motioning for Luminous to follow.

"How is something like this supposed to help me maintain my power?" Luminous asked, looking over the simple design.

"When you use a Shadow Spell, a feather of the Onyx wing will glow: the more feathers are glowing, the more prominent it is within you, the same for Light. However you must keep in mind that for each spell you use of one, it will diminish the other slightly." Luminous reached his hand out for the devise when small vines shot out from the inner portion of the bracer, digging into his arm and wriggling under his skin for a moment, pulling the bracer to his arm where it wrapped around his wrist and locked into place.

"I never knew that is what it did." Beuwon said with a surprised tone while Luminous knelt to the ground, holding his arm down and squeezing with the other to stay the pain.

"It was made by that traitor Corus, what did you expect?" Luminous asked with a growl, looking up at him with his slightly glowing right eye. For a moment Beuwon truly feared Luminous: he had always known this boy as a prodigy to the Light art, but now that his being had been infested with Black Magic, he was far more unpredictable.

"I trust that you have been able to find the Master Crystals with ease?" Beuwon asked, trying to break the tension in the air while Luminous still hissed and grit his teeth against the pain in his arm.

"Not at all; somehow the crystals have been stolen from whom they were supposed to be, so I've only been able to come across them by chance. The only clues that I ever get as to who has them or where they are, is either a creature has suddenly gained a lot of power, or I can feel its presence nearby."

"I see. The only one I knew who had the first of the Master Crystals was Kriel of Orbis. Perhaps she would know something that could lead you to another Crystal."

"I'll get right on that as soon as my arm no longer feels like it's being twisted on the inside."

"No, you must go now. Movement will help you forget the pain." Luminous glared back at him hatefully, but followed his instructions and forced himself to move away from Serenity and on to Orbis. He was just clearing the outskirts of the Golem Temple when he saw something fly past him: he took a breath, overpowering his pain and made himself see what had flown past, and recognized the person.

"Kriel!" He called, stumbling a bit as he fumbled towards her. Kriel looked back stopping in mid flight and then flew at him hard, crashing into him and holding on to him as tight as she could with tears flowing down her face.

"Kriel, what's the matter?" he asked, again feeling the stinging pain in his arm.

"Oh it's horrible, just horrible! Chryse is being attacked by a creature and no one knows how to stop it and so many people are dying and there's nothing that I can do since I don't know how to fight…"

"KRIEL! Calm down, what are you talking about?" Kriel explained to him that a place even higher than the Palace City of Orbis called Chryse used to be a part of Orbis, but split off many years before the Heroes answered Minerva's call. The Chrysians were peaceful industrious giants, but recently, a bright magenta light had hit a pet of one of the people, turning it into a beast that was determined to either take over Chryse or destroy it.

"They have set up a test to find out who of their strongest warriors can possibly face this beast, but each of the ones that they have sent to defeat it has yet to return or hear any word from. One of them sent a letter to me asking if there was anyone strong enough from down here and immediately I thought of the Guardians. But since I've found you instead, do you think you'll be able to try?" Luminous though about it for a moment, thinking back over what each of the Aurora crystals looked like, remembering that there was one that radiated an intense shade of Magenta, and this did coincide with his theory of creatures suddenly gaining power due to a glow of some color.

"Can you take me there?" Luminous asked, his face becoming serious.

"I can't, I'm not strong enough a flyer to get through the thin air, but I can take you to Orbis where Ericson can throw you up there; he's the strongest man I know."

"Take me there then." Almost before Luminous could finish his sentence, Kriel had grabbed his hand and was flying across the skies as fast as she could towards Orbis. What dangers awaited him, Luminous wondered, swaying from side to said in the grip of Kriel's slender hands that were surprisingly strong for someone who appeared so elegant.

* * *

Mercedes appeared just outside of Ellul, walking through the front gate and quickly making her way to the palace. What could be so urgent that she would have needed to return here? And then there was the bit about being a 'heart healing' experience.

"_What could that possibly…_" Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she came into the palace and saw standing before them a Pegasus that looked so strikingly similar to Onora she nearly ran and put her arms around its neck. But there was something not quite right about her to be Onora.

"What is this Philius? Is this some kind of sick joke?" Mercedes asked angrily as a lump began to form in her throat when she felt a presence in her mind, similar to that of Onora

"_It is no hoax. You may remember Onora: she was my great great grandmother._" Mercedes looked to the Pegasus in stunned silence, until the thought continued.

"_My name is Sylvidia. Tales of Onora's bravery fighting alongside you all those years ago were told over and over among us. It was a dream of each of us that were descended of her to fight at your side and when word of your return reached us, I knew that it was my time. _" Mercedes was over come, remembering all the times that she had shared with past friend, seeing so much of Onora in Sylvidia. She shut her eyes tight to try and keep her tears at bay, but it did little to help as she nodded her approval and Sylvidia walked over to her, draping her head over Mercedes shoulder.

"_I know I can never replace her, but I hope that I can serve you as best I can._" Mercedes didn't have any words to say, nor were there any that needed to be said as she let herself at last feel some sort of sorrow over the loss of Onora. It felt to her as though ages passed until she was finally able to regain her composure and was handed a scroll addressed to her. She was just about to open it when the unmistakable, southern belle drawl of the Great Spirit's voice echoed in her mind.

"_Mah mah dear Mercedes, Ah hardli recognahze you. Your powah has become somethin' fierce indeed. Ah do declare that you can withstand anutha helpin' of mah powah to help you free your people of this awful curse. It even brings a chill to mah bones."_ With a sudden burst of delight, Mercedes went back to her room, grabbing her harp and plucking out the three strings that took her into the Great Spirit's communing sanctuary.

"Now this is goin' to sting a might bit, since you ah going to be receiving a larger portion this time. Although it will take some tahm for your body to become accustomed to it, so don't go ovah board using your higher powahed abilities you hear?"

"That I understand completely Great Spirit." Mercedes answered, bowing low to the hazy image of her that floated before her.

"Now now child, you needn't speak to me in such a propuh mannah." All the same Mercedes didn't get up from her position until she had received the power from the Great Spirit and was sent back to her room. Her skin tingled and buzzed as the new power settled within her body, remembering the scroll that Philius had handed hear before seeing the Great Spirit.

_"Mercedes, I just thought of something. Within the city of Ludibrum there is something that is said to wake anyone from any kind of curse. It should be powerful enough to wake the rest of your people out of their sleep. Athena."_ Relief washed over her as she read the letter, tilting it slightly to let Sylvidia see it, and the two of them agreeing that this was something that needed to be attended to right away: if there was a chance that the Elfin people could be brought out of the frozen sleep, she was willing to take the risk of doing it, even if it meant that she would be the one to suffer. After she had gathered a few bottles of water to take with her, Mercedes leapt onto Sylvidia's back and hung on tightly as they took for the skies in at burst of speed.

All during the flight, Mercedes had memories came to her of flying with Onora for endless hours before it had been decided that she would be the ruler of her people, landing in sunny spots within the Minar Forest to just sit and listen to the birds, or even leaning against her while reading an interesting scroll that Mercedes had found in the library. It was pleasant, but there would be time to revel as her mind was brought back to her people and the prospect of being able to finally awaken them from the curse of the Black Mage that had frozen them all for 600 years.

Finally she arrived in Ludibrum, taking out the scroll once more and reading through it again, noticing at the bottom a small note that described a man named Audish somewhere in the lower levels of the clock tower. Both she and Sylvidia felt uneasy as they descended into the strange world of the Clock tower, where the Cronos could be seen hard at work monitoring the flow of time all around them but never becoming hostile, allowing them to pass without incident.

"I trust that you are Mercedes?" a strong and strangely comforting voice asked, making her jump and hold her guns out ready to fire when she saw a man with a handsomely trimmed beard and elegant brown cloak.

"And how would you know of me?" She asked. The man then reached for his hood and pulled it back, revealing his brushed grey hair and intelligent brown eyes. Under the collar of the cloak, Mercedes thought she saw this man wearing what appeared to be a black dress suit, however without getting closer to see she wasn't entirely sure.

"I am Audish, the man that Athena spoke of in her letter. I surprised at how quickly you came, seeing as Athena and I only met yesterday." Mercedes was still suspicious, lowering her guns slowly but kept an eye on him, even when hooking her guns back to her belt.

"If I have a chance to break the curse on my people, then I will do anything that it takes." Audish nodded his understanding, holding his hand out as he began to lead her.

"I see your people mean a great deal to you." He purred.

"Wouldn't the people of any ruler?" Mercedes answered quickly, puzzled by his statement. Audish only nodded, leading them to a section of the clock tower teaming with androids tending to the machines that created the toys Ludibrum was so renowned for.

"Beyond that room, there is a chamber and within that chamber there is something called the 'Flame of Revival'. I would have gotten it for you but it will only work for the one who retrieved it." Audish pointed to a darkened area on the other side of the room where hundreds of the android were running about. Mercedes took a breath and began descending the stairs that led into the pit grabbing for her Bow Guns out of habit while Sylvidia watched from above: spaces like these being surrounded by enemies always made her nervous. With light steps she walked through the sea of movement, squeezing through the spaces she could find making sure that she didn't do anything rash since machines were something that she never trusted. At last she managed to get to the chamber without anything happening to her, but as she was reaching for the knob of the door, Sylvidia noticed that Audish had a suspicious smile across his face.

She looked back to Mercedes as the door slowly opened, turning back to where Audish should have been standing and instead seeing a blank space. Lifting her wings and high as she could, she dove off the ledge and rushed through the sea of androids, tossing them to the side from the wash of wind that came up from her movement.

"_Mercedes wait!_" But just as she was about to grab Mercedes and toss her up onto her back, hands shot out from the door, grabbed both of them and pulled them into the chamber, shutting the door behind them hard leaving them in the dark. For a few moments, then two of them didn't want to move or do anything: Minerva had trained them all to fight in dark situations, but this was a level of darkness was far more than she had trained in. Moments passed quickly as she thought over her abilities, trying to remember what she had learned so long ago and remembering the summoning technique that she had learned for a sprite called The Fire Knight. Crossing her bow guns over each other, she sent a pulse of her mana through them, opening a portal allowing a small tongue of fire to come through hovering before her, lighting the area with a warm glow. But the sight that greeted her wasn't: dozens of creatures, all with daggers and dressed in black clothes stood around her with black gems in the shape of wings on their shirts. Their eyes were pale and unfocused while saliva dripped in sheets from their lips, almost as if they were rabid or feral.

"What in Minerva's name…" Mercedes whispered, when they all turned to her, clenching their teeth hard and lunging for her. With the pull of the trigger, her arrows shot through their bodies as streaks of light, obliterating large portions of them as though they were clouds of smoke. Sylvidia rushed them as hard as she could, despite the fact that she couldn't use her wings to help until she was pushed to the ground, claws of the beasts scratching her coat before Mercedes took aim and tore them from around her.

"Are you alright?!"

"_Yes master, just keep fighting!_" Sylvidia replied, bucking and ramming her way through the creatures. But the harder that Mercedes fought, it seemed that the more enemies would appear.

"_I can only use it once since I have only begun to absorb The Great Spirit's power, but it's the only way that we're going to survive this ambush_. Sylvidia! Get to the ground!" she called. With a spread of her wings, Sylvidia pushed a group of enemies away and dropped to the ground. Vines reached up Mercedes legs, further empowering her bow guns as she jumped high into the air, holding down the triggers and spinning around with a blast of her own mana while a cloud of arrows rained down, reducing the enemies to nothing more than corpses. When she landed, silence hung thick in the air while Mercedes made sure that no more creatures would attack when a dull light rose in the room, revealing how many bodies lay around her. Sadly she folded back the arms of her guns and holstered them when a multitude of wailing whispers surrounded her, filling her head so much she thought her head would explode, until one voice rose above the rest.

"_Thank you miss; all of us have been tortured long enough. But there are more of us left. Please, go to the battle plain, end our suffering._" And then as it had started, it ended, leaving her in peace with Sylvidia in the dark.

"_Master Mercedes, what's wrong? You look pale._"

"I don't know, but there is some unfinished business from when the Black Mage was still alive. Right now I have to find Audish and get answers from him, even if I have to beat it out of him."

"_He left as soon as you were about to come in here, and he had a peculiar smile on his face._" Sylvidia answered as she got up and shook the flesh and blood from her coat the best she could, licking a wound on her shoulder that she could reach.

"Then it's time we visit Athena in El Nath; perhaps this could shed some light on why she sent me into a Black Wings ambush. I don't think she would set me up this way, but an exceptional amount of time has passed. Time can change a person." Mercedes growled, walking out of the room roughly, troubled by what the wails had told her; what didn't The Guardians finish 18 years ago?

* * *

Luminous didn't exactly enjoy being thrown into Chryse, nor did he get the feeling that he was very welcome there either, since even the children here were another three feet taller than him and glared at him as he walked by. But even so, there was someone that he had to meet, instructed by Ericson to talk only to the Village Chief and him alone. Just as he was about to enter what appeared to be a village threshold, he was stopped by a particularly large giant.

"Who are you and how did you get into Chryse?" he asked. Luminous knew that he could probably get around him and find the chief, but he didn't need to make a scene just he got there. Luminous took Ericson's advice and didn't speak to him; instead he simply walked over to a rock and sat down, resting the staff against his shoulder. The man that stopped him asked his question again, louder, but still only finding that any kind of answer from this man was futile. After another ten minutes of trying to intimidate an answer out of him, another man even larger than the first, came walking up behind him wearing a white and purple toga.

"Demos! Who are you yelling at? I can hear you from the fortress!"

"I'm sorry Chief, but I keep asking this man how he came here, but he won't answer any of my questions." The Chief looked down at Luminous who eyed him hard with his glowing red eye for a long while.

"That's because he's a human sent by Ericson, you should know that. I'm Sorry for Demos's actions. I hope that you weren't too intimidated by him." Luminous smirked darkly, reaching for his staff while letting his hair fall over his left eye.

"No, not in the least." The chief was taken aback as he watched black power begin to seep from his body like smoke.

"_What's with this man?_ Good, I trust then that Ericson told you only to speak to me?" Luminous lost his dark look, simply seeming to be a normal man that didn't have any sort of dark powers what so ever.

"Yes, that he did. My name is Luminous, and I understand that you've been having some problems with a creature that has recently gained a significant amount of power?"

"Who told you of such things?" the chief demanded, almost seeming embarrassed that he couldn't handle something like this on their own.

"A friend." Luminous replied quite simply. The Chief's face became red, mostly out of anger but also in embarrassment.

"Chief, listen, even our most skilled and strongest warriors couldn't defeat him. Maybe this human has something to offer that we don't." a third giant reasoned. A long silence followed while the Chief eyed Luminous for a long while, noticing the three crystals in his staff, recognizing them as similar to the one in the creature's forehead.

"Though I hate to admit it, we have been sending many warriors to fight this creature, but none of them have been able to defeat him, and we are losing more and more each day. But you must be proven worthy in the eyes of the Chrysians before I can send you."

"And how might I do that?" Luminous asked.

"Come with me." The Chief motioned, walking towards what appeared to be an arena where shouts and cheers could be heard along with the clang and scraping of metal.

"Within these walls is the Arena of Keros. You must fight your way through it, and when you reach the end, you and any who made it with you will be given whatever you think you will need to fight this beast." Luminous growled slightly in annoyance: how can they have something like this when they have been trying to rid themselves of some creature? Did they do this because they were having fun? Or was this a genuine test? In any case, he was led to the starting point behind a huge iron gate, beside him he was able to hear grunts and growls from the giants that had also come to participate in this proving battle. Tightening his grip around his staff, he took a stance as the gate began to rise before him, revealing a small platoon of weasel-like creatures standing with shields and spears pointed at him.

Before the gate was even fully lifted, the front line of them began to charge, little knowing that the man that stood before them was already on the offensive as well. Luminous thrust his hand forward, light from the crystals in his staff coming to life as a blaze of light erupted before him, sweeping to one side and knocking them back with ease. The other giants beside him still looked as though they were fighting as hard as they could against the first wave making Luminous chuckle to himself, proud that he was a human as yet still managed to defeat these creatures with little to no effort. As soon as the last of the weasel creatures were down on the ground, the second gate opened allowing Luminous to face rabbit-like creatures. He was preparing to deal with these in the same manner as the weasels, when they all began to jump around, bouncing off the walls and attacking him from all angles with little or no pattern to their attacks. With a quick glance at his wrist, he saw that the right pearl wing was nearly filled.

"Good, I'll be able to use something a little more potent." He mumbled to himself, disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing near the door leading to the next arena; one of the rabbits saw where he had disappeared to and lunged for him. Pulling back his weapon arm as far as it would go, the rabbit creature was about to strike when he was stopped when a blackened spear of dark magic shot from the ground through his body with a wet crunch, flinging him to the ground when the chain attached to the spear was pulled tight. Luminous smiled and looked down at his wrist, seeing that the left onyx wing was filled 1/4 of the way.

"_One spell and it's already that full?!"_ he thought, looking at the other side of his bracelet, noting that the feathers were drained almost the same amount. Just as another rabbit was lunging at him, Luminous jammed his staff into the ground, throwing the rabbit back in a limp pile as a dome of light erupted from him. Luminous then began appearing around the arena in flashes of light, hurling his Sylvan Lance in wide arcs that would take down multiple beasts at once until finally the right side of his bracelet was full, but the left had barely moved at all. Gritting his teeth he then leapt from the ground, holding out his staff where a ball of dark energy gathered, sparking and hissing as threads of lightning hit the ground blackening it and shocking the rabbits that weren't able to move fast enough. When he had finished using it, Luminous looked down to his wrist again, noting that the right side was nearly half empty, but that the left was now nearly full.

"_I'm REALLY beginning to think this Equilibrium thing is just a joke!_" he hissed to himself, running after the last rabbit who began bouncing all over the place, off the walls, even jumping at him with his sword but being deflected by Luminous's staff.

"That's IT!" he shouted swinging his staff towards the rabbit's next landing point making the dark spear chains shoot from the wall. The rabbit squealed and squirmed as it tried to right itself to avoid being hit, but it was too little too late as the spear chains drove through the rabbit's body, spraying its blood on the wall and dusty ground below before falling limp with the body still hanging from them. A roar of cheers sounded behind him accompanied by what sounded like stomping feet, making the ground tremble under him; were they cheering for him?

Luminous didn't have enough time to think about it deeply when he heard the sound of the next gate opening, revealing dozens of enormous scorpions each armored heavily. He ducked to the right as the first one that charged swung its pincer forward, digging into the ground and leaving a near three foot trench in its wake. As soon as he was able to, Luminous made sure he had a firm footing, took aim with his hand and unleashed the blast of light that had defeated the weasels only to watch as it ricocheted off the scorpion's hard shell, smashing in to the wall instead.

"Well then, looks like I'll have to…" his thought was cut off when another scorpion brought down its tail right where he was standing, giving Luminous only enough time to teleport out of the way, but into the oncoming path of yet another scorpion.

"Jeese! Do these guys have a weak point or what?" Looking down at his wrist, he saw that the dark magic was nearly at the peak of the bracer, as was the light. With another leap, he dodged the pincers again, reappearing on the Scorpion's back as it swayed and jerked, trying to rid itself of the irritating feeling and rolling back one of its eyes nearest the top of its head. Just as he was holding up his staff forming rocks of dark magic, the creature's tail swept him from off its back, tumbling on the ground where a waiting scorpion swung down its pincers. Luminous had just enough time to summon his protective dome of light to keep from getting squashed, but no sooner had he deflected that attack then he was swatted away from his position towards the wall. Just before he hit, Luminous teleported himself to the other side of the arena behind the scorpions, gritting his teeth as his left eye began to glow still using the momentum from being thrown.

"This is getting me nowhere!" he shouted, swinging his staff over and over again switching between his Sylvan Lance or Spectral light, but they were only deflected off the scorpions hard outer shell. Even his Dark Spells weren't working, which were at this point, more powerful than his Light spells. After fighting them for nearly ten minutes straight, Luminous was thrown back, skidding to a stop on the dusty ground when he happened to notice that both wings of his bracer were flashing. Alright, so he had filled both wings, now what? Beuwon never told him what he was supposed to do once both wings were filled. Just as he was about to begin his next attack, something flashed through his mind, _seeming to transport him to a place somewhere surrounded by nothing except the inky blackness of space and the bright specs of stars._

_"So, he has come at last?" A woman's voice asked, stepping from the emptiness wearing elegant and flowing black robes, her hair black as coal with a few strands of her bangs being pure white._

_"Yes, that he has." A male voice answered, stepping into the area around Luminous, this time dressed in a white toga, his hair being the purest of whites, interrupted only by a small section of hair near his temple that was black. Luminous tried to speak, but his mouth would only move and no words would come out._

_"Is he the one that tried to summon us before?" the woman asked, walking around Luminous and setting a sleek hand on his shoulder, sliding her sharp fingertips across his neck._

_"No, he is not the one. But he has learned to balance the powers of magic." The man replied. The woman smiled as she walked around before Luminous, gliding down slightly to meet him eye to eye; but something about that smile was worrisome as she put her finger tips under his chin, puncturing his skin slightly, making his blood run down her fingers._

_"Such a handsome young man; it has been some time since someone like him has come along. I would just love to eat his heart."_

_"But you won't for he has come seeking our assistance; he has learned our Balance, and he has earned the right to wield us." The man scolded, making the woman breathe slowly in agitation before standing up and stepping back._

_"I suppose you are right." She finally answered, turning to face Luminous once again and holding out her palm to him._

_"You have earned the right to wield us equally, the Dark of the Night…"_

_"…And the Light of Day. Together, we can transcend the bonds that divide us. Make use of our power, now that you have leaned to balance us." the man said in a strong voice,_ when Luminous stopped his assault and knelt to the ground instead. The Scorpions surrounding him began to charge, their feet thundering against the ground while raising their tails to strike. The first one to come close enough drove down its tail hard, but was suddenly stopped when Luminous held up his staff, holding back the powerful tail as though it were nothing. From around him silver light began to shine, his eyes both became icy silver while the power flowing from his body blew away the dust that had gathered. For a moment, silence hung in the air, the crowd hushed to stillness so thick, that even the dust itself feared being heard. In a flash of light, Luminous disappeared from under the Scorpion's pincer, reappearing above it looking to be dressed in a tattered, silver hooded cloak while his staff took on the shape of a sharp scythe, slicing through its body and hitting the ground hard.

The dust was blown away as Luminous then charged at the other scorpions, slicing through their bodies as though they were nothing until he stopped at the next gate, the bodies of the creatures exploding into a rain of strange green-brown blood and dark flesh. Cheers erupted from the crowd so loud that Luminous could feel it in his chest, but the power that he had gained quickly left him as the silver color drained away, leaving him nearly unable to stand. Still he forced himself to get up and walk to the next gate. When it was raised, large mammoths trumpeted almost trying to break down the gate. Through his blurry vision, Luminous tried to focus on the task at hand, but was finding that it was becoming harder and harder to do so: whatever power he had gained for those few short moments had not only left him with very little mana, but depleted his energy so much that he could hardly stand.

Just as Luminous was about to summon the last of his strength and fight the charging pachyderm, one of the giants from another arena leapt over the wall and broadsided it, knocking it to the ground before turning and wrestling the rest of the herd to the ground. The crowd once again cheered, but Luminous let himself become lost in his own exhaustion and fell to the ground, watching as the giant that had come wrestled the others away before everything went black.

* * *

Phantom was worried about what the barrier coming down meant: was Clytemnestra making her move? Or was she simply toying with them as the Black Mage was notorious for doing when he knew that he couldn't be stopped. In either case, there didn't seem to be any immediate danger, and so he lowered himself into the Sleeping Wood searching the bustling streets for someone that might resemble the 'Spiriteer' he was looking for. When he couldn't find him on his own, he asked a lovely young lady passing him by who pointed to a man dressed in a simple brown cloak, his dark skin offsetting the bright white markings on his forehead and arms. As Phantom neared, he could hear the man speaking in some strange language as though reciting a meditation prayer.

"I will be with you momentarily traveler." He said, without opening his eyes. Instinctively, Phantom bowed slightly when he realized that the man probably couldn't see him anyway, so bowing was really just an unneeded motion.

"Sorry, I must finish my meditations completely, or else I might get a headache later. Now what is it that I can do for you?" he asked, seeming to become pale when he looked to Phantom.

"I've come in search of something that you are well versed in, or at least so it has been rumored. Not long ago, a certain person tried to be rid of me but it wasn't him that was in control of his actions, a Spirit Possession. What might you know about it?" The Spiriteer looked at Phantom long and hard, not saying a single word as he moved his hands around in a strange motion before pursing his eyebrows together and turning his head slightly.

"A spirit possession is something that only the most powerful spirit or sacred mages know. It allows one to detach their Life Force from their physical body and use another's body for their bidding. I am surprised that you have not been overtaken yet."

"What do you mean?" Phantom asked with a nervous smile.

"Can you not sense it?" Phantom was puzzled; what was there to sense? He turned around to see if maybe someone was watching him from close by, but there was no one.

"What are you talking about?" Phantom asked, turning back around: this Spiriteer was really beginning to worry him.

"There is a spirit hanging over your shoulder, thick with a lust for your blood." This time it was Phantom's face that drained of color: was it the same spirit that he had seen leave the librarian's body?

"Is there a way that I can get rid of it?"

"There is, but I will need time to create the charm." Phantom became angry, grabbing the man's shirt and lifting him from his seat.

"I have been having my past haunt me like a bad taste; if this thing is after me then I want to make sure that it will leave me alone until I have dealt with my past!" He growled, thinking back to the words that his captain had said to him after being told to head for the Ludibrum Library.

"_Phantom, there is something that I think you should know." Phantom huffed and chuckled._

_"What is it now Renault? We're on our way to find…"_

_"It concerns Aria's death." Phantom's face became serious as his voice became enraged._

_"What of it? She was killed by the envoy of the Black Mage."_

_"That Envoy wasn't alone; Shinsoo came by recently and told me of this. You left the palace before he had a chance to tell you everything that happened. The Envoy was accompanied by two Generals, Orca and Suu, twins. The terms were discussed, and Aria firmly denied their demands; Shinsoo had hoped that they would leave peacefully which at first it seemed they would, until Suu turned and lunged for Aria, saying that her precious Phantom wasn't there to protect her. Shinsoo was rendered immobile by Orca, while Suu toyed with her, hurting only the non-vital areas until an hour had passed, saying how disappointed he was that Phantom wasn't coming. Shinsoo broke free of Orca's hold and tried to stop his killing blow, but was a moment too late, only able to mortally wound the boy and cradle Aria until she died, moments before you came._"

The Spiriteer pried Phantom's hands from his shirt, seeming saddened as he shook his head.

"You have endured great pain in your past. You wish to avenge the one you loved, but doing so will only cause you more pain."

"I don't care! If this thing on me is causing me to be held back in finding the one who did this, then I want it off me now!" Phantom shouted. The spiriteer nodded, reaching into his simple hut and pulling from it a charm, the letters on it having been scrawled in blood.

"Take this charm to the Shaman rock just outside of the village here. Place it within the hollow and it will show you that which hangs over you." he answered. Phantom roughly took the charm and headed in the direction he was pointed, ignoring the Spiriteer's warnings about what pain it would cause him in the end. He could hear him all the way to the edge of town, finally going silent after he left and followed a path that seemed to have been worn into the dense grasses there, finding the Shaman rock along the path just as the Spiriteer had said it would be.

"Alright you little pest, let's see who you are." Phantom chuckled, slapping the charm into it, hearing a boy's grunt as though he had been hit by something, hovering in mid air.

"So you're the one that's been spying on me. Have we met before? You seemed familiar in the library." The boy smirked and lowered himself to the ground.

"I'm surprised that you don't remember me Phantom. You and I had such fun in the days after you had finished your training with Minerva." Phantom felt the color drain from his body as he thought back over the thefts that he had committed, sometimes seeing the common folk often pestered by this young boy as he rounded them up to be taken by black horse and carriage to some unknown place where no doubt ill tiding awaited.

"Suu."

"Ah! I see you _do_ still remember! I'm touched really, but you see, I suffered a week's worth of punishment at The Mage's hand when you freed those traitors I was charged with bringing in. I had hoped to see you again on one of your little escapades, but you had become so scarce I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about me." Phantom's hand tightened around his cane until he rushed at Suu, unfortunately his cane hitting nothing making him stumble to the ground.

"You damn bastard! YOU KILLED ARIA!"

"What? That little tramp? She was nothing but a treasure to you. I wondered why it was that your thieving had lessened and followed you one day. And what did I find but you wooing the Empress with lavish gifts of perfumes or rare treasures that you had stolen. I knew how you felt if one were to amuse themselves with one of your treasures. And so I did just that all while waiting for you to come to her aid so that I could kill you myself."

"Damn you, damn you, DAMN YOU TO HELL YOU WORTHLESS SWINE! You tortured her for an hour! She never deserved that!" Phantom bellowed, hearing the echoes in swim through the woods for some time.

"Then you should have come sooner, and as a result could have prevented her suffering. But you didn't show; such a pity really. And thanks to that useless feather dragon, I am reduced to leaving my body like this to find information. Luckily I've been able to do so with little trouble, memorizing every bit and then destroying it so that you can't stop us." Phantom clenched his fists in the dirt, digging into the rich soil that was along the path.

"I will find you and I will end you." Phantom hissed, turning his fire fueled gaze up to meet Suu while tears began to form and run down his cheeks.

"I would like to see you try Phantom. The only reason I haven't taken over you and had you killed is because I am too far away from my body at the moment, and your current level of power prevents me from doing so. Until then Phantom, ta ta!" Suu began fading away from sight as Phantom once again tried to strike with his cane, only hitting air again. The frustration of not being able to do anything against Suu made him raise his fist and slam it into the ground over and over again, the softened impact on the dirt only fueling his rage.

"_Wait, he said he was too far away from his body. That means he somewhere quite far away._" Quickly he ran back to his ship searching his documents and charts to find a place that could provide a clue when a thought struck him.

"_The Black Wings still had a base of some sort in the mines the last time I went there. Perhaps he could be there! And now that the Barrier is gone, we can go._ Renault! To Edelstein!"


	14. Chapter 13: Dangerous Paths, Part 2

Chapter 13: Dangerous Paths, Part 2

"So what are the creatures like that are in these portals?" Ashura asked, followed closely by Shinsoo who had reverted to his tux wearing human form since the space within the Clock Tower was too tight for his full Dragon form.

"They aren't exactly normal. The last one we were sent to take care of in Perion was a stronger version of The Skeleton King. From what Patricia was able to find, it was the General of Sharen III skeleton army after he had become corrupt by the Rubian. But this creature, this was stronger than what the books said, even though it wasn't all that hard to defeat."

"So they're like beasts that already exist only stronger?" Shinsoo asked.

"That's what it seems like. The creature we were sent to deal with here is reported to be modeled after Timer, the Time Owl. No one knows where the original creature came from, but is said to be as old as Ludibrum itself." Yoshumari responded, rounding the corner and spotting the portal.

"This one has been a bit harder to pin down; from time to time it moves all over the lower levels of the Tower." Starling explained, taking the guns from their holsters, pulling sliders back to check the ammo before checking her belt for reload clips. Yoshumari flared his Nalcana as if to warm up, the anticipation hidden well on his face as the time for battle neared.

"How can you even carry those things?" Vondra asked, bouncing her primary dagger in her hand and looking back to Starlings pistols.

"Years on the job and a full extension lifts kept the back of my shoulders strong." She said back sassily, holding them up ready for action. Putting up his hand, Yoshumari began a countdown, lifting his wings as he was going to be the first one in. With a rush of wind he disappeared into the swirling doorway; the others waited for a few seconds and then piled through to find Yoshumari struggling to push back what looked to be a large mechanical owl.

Before it had time to see what was coming, Vondra rushed forward, knocking it back with a double cross slash, followed by a volley of hits from Patricia. Latimer took a breath, taking his crossbow from over his shoulder, sliding back the preload and following the bird's movements waiting for an opening as Vondra and Patricia tag teamed the bird. He was just about to pull the trigger when Ashura rushed in, her hands absorbing what appeared to be a bright violet light before stabbing forward and knocking back the bird hard.

"My my Ashura, you're taking after the Spearman ways nicely." Patricia commented.

"It ain't over yet Patty, don't lose your focus!" she called back as the bird spread its wings and began flying through the tight spaces as though it were nothing.

"No you don't." Yoshumari growled, spreading his own wings and going after Timer, head on. Before he had a chance to attack, Timer opened its beak and hit him hard with a sonic wave of some kind, disorienting him enough that he crashed into a low hanging bridge. Timer seemed to smirk as it went past, making Yoshumari grit his teeth and push off the bridge after him, ducking in and out of tight areas or slicing through obstructions with his Nalcana.

"SOMEONE BRING HIM DOWN!" he shouted, just as a flare of arrows from Latimer sliced through Timer's left wing, making it tumble to the ground towards Patricia and Starling. Taking quick yet careful aim, Starling shot both of her guns through the join pin that held Timer's wing. Patricia then side stepped Timer's sliding body and cut the wires and lines leading into his wing and severing it completely from him. Vondra was about to come at him from above with a hail of dagger slashes when he rolled over on his side and hit both Yoshumari and Vondra into an above platform. With another scream Timer turned to Starling and Patricia, flinging them into a wall hard enough that their weapons were wrenched from their hands.

Latimer ran to a pile of what appeared to be storage canisters, checking the hard count of bolts in his crossbow. Behind him he could hear the large owl searching the area, servos and actuators hissing with each movement he made: at least now he couldn't fly, but there were still his nasty claws and beak that would no doubt tear him apart if given the chance. Latimer slowed his breathing, listening for where that owl might be before quickly standing up and taking aim over the canisters only to find that Timer was nowhere to be seen, scanning the area but finding no trace of him anywhere.

"GET DOWN!" Ashura shouted, charging over the canisters and shoving her cross spear over Latmier's head and through Timer's eye, making it throw its head back in perceived pain, throwing her to the ground where she was caught by Shinsoo. Latimer turned around reaching to his belt for one of the powerful Arrow Turrets, when he realized that this narrow place would never allow for an effective attack. Instead he pulled the pump action on his crossbow, forcing mana into the bolt which created a mechanical tip and fired, watching as the bolt bored through Timer's body and burry itself in the wall.

Timer faltered for a moment before turning its attention to Latimer, opening his beak ready to hit him with a blast of sound to knock him out when a purple flash streaked past him, cutting through Timer's neck in a swirl of red flashes and stopped behind him, revealing Vondra as she spun her daggers around and sheathed them. Just after she had done so, Timer's head dislodged from its neck while sparks flashed and hydraulic fluid sprayed from its neck as the body fell to the ground.

"That was harder than I thought it would be: the thing is just a mechanical owl, it should have been taken down with Yoshumari's first attack." Ashura exclaimed, walking over to the carcass and pulling out her spear from the head.

"I don't think that the creature's physical strength has anything to do with it." Yoshumari responded, helping Starling to her feet and handing her one of her pistols.

"What do you mean? That thing nearly made mincemeat out of us, and you're saying that…"

"I'm saying that the creature's strength come from the fact that it is a copy of the original. It is meant to be strong so that it will difficult to stop."

"But if making another creature is the only thing that these portals do, what's the point of having them at all? Aren't they supposed to allow Akarium to break the seal in the Temple of Time easier?"

"That they do and that is what I haven't been able to figure out." Yoshumari explained, leading them out of the portal and looking closer at the energy swirling within the portal itself: it had streaks of bright blue energy within it, hidden by the mass of lighter green energy.

"This isn't just some energy to keep the portal open; there is Time's energy mixed in." Yoshumri exclaimed. Vondra came to take a closer look, squinting her eyes as she thought through explanations in her head.

"Why would this need Time's energy to ensure that it works?" Starling took aim at the top of the rock-like formation around the portal and broke it, dispersing the energy within it.

"While you deal with the second portal here in Ludibrum, I am going to talk to an expert on Time's energy." Yoshumari commanded, splitting off from the group and flying towards Leafre as the rest readied to climb down the massive east tower of Ludibrum, Eos: if Nexus didn't have any answer to this they would have to find out the hard way what these portals were for and why the creatures within them seemed to be getting stronger.

* * *

"_Alpha Squad Leader this is Overlord; what is your status, over?_" Checky huffed as he slid his mech's arm into the Hex Cannon attachment, pulling back the bolt hard enough that sparks flashed from it, cueing his mic.

"Bravo Mike's have secured the perimeter; Wisky Hotel's are wrapping up the last of evacuations. Alpha Squad is down five mechs, Delta Squad is in position and standing by. Jay has all four Heavies on standby just outside for delivery." Putting his mech into standby, Checky glanced over his gauges one last time to make sure that he had everything that he could possibly fit into the mech. Before Abi was stationed in Ludibrum with the Silver Squad, she had helped him make another seven Hex Cannons and was just putting the finishing touches on the Eighth, which Checky took upon himself to finish once Dumia had warned them about the incoming enemies.

"_This is Bravo Mike Red Leader, we think we can see something; three bogies seven clicks out._"

"Roger that Red Leader, All Hex Cannons on Alpha Leader. Alpha Squad, rally with 'Her' and keep the citizens safe. Delta Squad, send six to the garage and keep it safe." A chorus of voices came over the Com System while Checky walked over to the edge of Edelstien, digging in the edges of his mech's feet into the ground preparing to fire, activating the advanced targeting system.

"_Alpha leader this is Matthew."_ Checky was taken aback suddenly hearing the leader of the Guardians address him.

"Checky here, go ahead Matthew."

"_I don't think those are just any creatures; we've killed creatures like these before, but we didn't have the power that we do now, so it shouldn't be too difficult."_

"Alright, go ahead, Alpha Squad and Delta Squad will be standing by." From the far side of Edelstein, the Guardians could be seen rushing through the streets to where they would face their foe. Matthew and Lillianne were the first on the scene, standing with weapons at the ready and humming with mana: the heart-like formation at the tip of the Rohen sent waves of power surging through Matthew's arms as he then pushed the Ruby Crystal's power into the blade of his sword. Lillianne placed one foot back, bracing herself as ice began to swirl around the head of Maha, making the ground around her begin to freeze.

The first of the creatures coming at them had five heads and seemed strangely familiar, looking as if it took a breath, throwing their heads down releasing rivers of flames on them. Matthew grit his teeth and tensed his grip as light exploded around the Rohen, hurling an arch in tandem with Lillianne's wall of ice, breaking through the flames that were coming at them and hitting the creature with explosive force hiding it in a cloud of smoke. The second of the beasts, a half dead looking bull creature flew through the cloud, coming straight at them hard. Matthew and Lillianne disappeared as Olsen appeared and dragged them back in a flash of hot pink light as Jack ran forward, hurling his fist as hard as he could only to have it be met with the creature's hand, stopping him in mid swing and holding him up in the air, the sound of which echoing through the town.

"Remember me?" The creature asked as it pulled Jack up to eye level. Jack looked harder at the creature as his eyes went wide in recognition, only to be hurled into one of the buildings.

"JACK!" Jenny called, drawing her bow and taking aim at the creature's head, when a third beast dropped down before her: a fat, half rotted creature with small green horns on the top of his head. His appearance made her lose focus for a moment, allowing the creature time to smack her bow and fire the humming wind arrow into the air. Helen could be seen levitating above the city, her hair and eyes glowing with Amethyst crystal power when the arrow from Jenny fizzled past her and made her look down to her.

"Jenny! Art thou…"

"I'M FINE! STOP THE INCOMING!" Jenny shouted. Helen turned to face her attacker, but was suddenly hit with something and driven to the ground, teleporting out of the way just before she hit a building beside where the large Seven headed beast landed.

"No; impossible." She whispered, casting a protection spell to redirect the flames shooting at her before teleporting away to find a better footing, only to be pinned to the ground by a clawed hand. In a brief moment, she saw the blue-grey scales on its arm and looked up to one of the heads which was half covered with flesh who turned to her, flames looking to lick at his lips. She tried to teleport away, but something suddenly was interfering with it. She tried summoning a protection spell, but again her spell failed just as she tried to activate it. Jack rushed in, slamming his shoulder into the arm, shoving it off of her enough that she could get out, teleporting him and her away from the beast allowing her to locate the others and rally with them.

"How can all of this be: the creature I was fighting was Pink Bean! I could have sworn that Helen incinerated him."

"T'was strange for me as well; Mine eyes seemed to deceive me when I saw Zakuhm and Horn Tail."

"What the heck is going on here!? Balrog is back too!" The six of them stood silent for a moment when the radio that Matthew had grabbed began to buzz.

"_Alpha Leader to Guardians! Where are you?! We could REAAAAALLLY USE YOUR HELP HERE!_" The call on the radio woke them out of their trance, running from their hiding spot to re-engage. But it seemed that no matter what they did, it would only anger them making their half rotten flesh only tear and release the stench of decay stronger through the entire city. Battle Mages, Wild Hunters, Mecha Pilots, even the Guardians were being badly beaten or wounded, some of the High Guard being killed as walls of flames or powerful swings of their claws would tear through the buildings. And then as quickly as it had begun, the beasts turned and left. Once the fires had been put out, and the wounded had been stabilized, the Guardians once again convened, trying to make sense of why the creatures they had obliterated so many years ago were now alive and stronger than ever, even appearing to be part of the undead.

"It makes no sense: I would understand if a platoon of Black Wings soldier were to come here, even Clytemnestra; but why would these four beasts, who have no connection to Edelstein what so ever attack and just leave." Olsen commented with a serious tone, watching as some of the Edelstein guard gathered up the bodies of the dead to account for them. Helen placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, returning his attention back.

"I fear their intention was not Edelstein my dear husband. Rather, what Edelstein hath hidden within its bosom."

"The Seals of Ossyria: wasn't Claudine the only one that knew where they were?" Matthew finished, crossing his arms making his gauntlets clink against one another while Jack reach for his own radio.

"Overlord this is Jack, do you copy?" Snow fuzzed through the speaker for a moment and the radio remained silent: he waited a few seconds before calling in again.

"Overlord this is Jack, do you copy?" Again the only response they were getting was the momentary snow and radio silence.

"_Jack this is Overwatch; we're also trying to get in contact with Overlord but have had no luck, over._"

"You think something might have happened to her?" Jack asked.

"_I don't know. The creature's seemed to be focused around the Main Hall, a good ten minute walk from the garages which is where Overlord usually is._"

"Copy that Overwatch, we're going to check it out now. If Claudine is usually at the garages, then something must have happened there while we were busy with them."

"_If you're thinking of coming to the House, don't bother._" Matthew reached for his communicator, pressing the small bud in his ear.

"Checky, what's going on? Are you there at the House?" he asked, moments of thick silence hung in the air longer than any of them were comfortable with, quickly running to the garages where they found Checky kneeling before the rubble that was left, clutching Claudine's top hat that she always wore, even after the defeat of the Black Mage.

"That harpy is gonna pay for this!" Jack growled, slamming his fist into his palm, extending the blades of his knucklers hard enough that sparks of ruby power fizzled in the air for a moment, Lillianne placing a hand in his shoulder.

"Jack, we don't even know if she was taken. She could have run off somewhere…"

"No she was taken." Checky interrupted.

"How do you know?" Lillianne asked, turning back to him with doubtful eyes.

"She would never leave her hat, even if a building was coming down. This was her brother's before The Mage's forces attacked 20 years ago." Matthew reached back and drew his Rohen, standing it on the tip in front of Checky.

"We'll get her back then. She's a tough girl, and should our children sense there is something they can do, I have no doubt they will do so." Checky nodded, taking Matthew's hand as he pulled him to his feet, patting him on the back jumping back in his mech and began sadly digging through the wreckage to clean it up.

"Thou dost know when thy back is turned fullest, he will take his leave in search of her." Helen observed as Matthew looked back at him for a moment.

"I'm counting on it: If Checky is still as full of fire as he was back then, there will be no stopping him. When he makes his move, we're going to back him up."

* * *

El Nath was much colder than Mercedes remembered, and in her haste to see Athena didn't prepare well enough. Sylvidia too shivered and pranced to try and keep her hooves from splitting in the cold as they walked quickly through town to the mansion of the Advance masters, where dozens of bundled up people could be seen standing outside waiting for their turn.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know if Athena is here at the moment?" Mercedes shivered, asking one of the people standing in line, brandishing a fine set of Ninja armor.

"Depends on who's asking." She answered with a smart attitude that made Mercedes arm twitch for one of her bows but relaxed, telling herself that this was only one of the many who had been tainted with greed and power instead of helping their fellow man.

"I think she is: There was a sign posted saying that she was going to be in today on the door." A young man answered, holding his hands under his arms for warmth.

"Thank you young man." Mercedes said as she tilted her head to him.

"You're such a suck up, stupid armature." The ninja bullied, shoving the young man in the shoulder. Mercedes could no longer stand her pompous attitude: she turned and was setting a hand on one of her guns when she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"I wouldn't bother with her Mercedes, people like her only care about what they want and what they can get from you." She turned back around to see Athena with a weak smile, motioning for her to follow back into the mansion, passing by all of the students there who shouted or cursed as they walked by, Mercedes noting that there were no archers among the ones that stood outside.

"The ones that have vowed to protect this land have become so warped." Mercedes commented as Sylvidia trotted quickly to the fireplace to warm herself.

"Such are the times Your Majesty. What brings you to El Nath?" Athena asked as she poured a cup of a hot drink and offered it to Mercedes.

"Not long ago you sent me a letter saying that you had found a way for the curse over my people to be broken, however when I arrived in Ludibrum and met the man you had mentioned, I was attacked by the Black Wings. Is this some kind of sick joke that you are playing on me Athena? I know that quite a lot of time has passed, but I never thought you would stoop to something like this." Athena jerked her head back in surprise while sitting on the couch in front of the fire, thinking back over the last few days trying to remember if she had sent any letters.

"Do you have the letter with you?" Athena asked. Angrily Mercedes handed it to her, allowing Athena to look it over.

"Your Majesty, I didn't write this. My hand writing is nothing like this, not to mention that there is no curse breaking object that exists within Ossyria by this name." Mercedes clenched her hands tightly as rage began to boil within her: The Black Wings had manipulated her into dong exactly what they wanted and almost succeeded in ridding themselves of her. They knew everything about her: what her weaknesses were, what her thoughts were like, even what to expect from her in saying that her people would finally be free of the curse!

"Tell me Athena: Do you know where the Black Wings have their head quarters?" Mercedes asked, visibly shaking in rage, her hair falling over her eyes and the orbs on the bow guns glowing brighter as the moments passed, tightening her grip around the handles.

"There are two places, the first of which is the Palace in Ereve where Clytemnestra is, but you would be killed before you even were close enough. The second is in Verne Mines of Edelstien." Frustrated tears began forming in the corners of Mercedes eyes: Ereve was closer, but at her current level of power there would be nothing that she could do! And Edelstein was too far away for Sylvidia to get to from El Nath: again there was nothing that she could do!

"Mercedes, all is not lost. I can send you where ever it is that you wish to go." Grendal offered after he had overheard the conversation between Athena and her. The light In Mercedes' eyes brightened slightly but in comparison was still dark.

"Very well, send me to Edelstein."

"_Master, retaliation is not the way to solve your problem: think of your people before you do something that you can't recover from._" Sylvidia interjected, walking over to her after she had warmed and put her head over Mercedes' shoulder

"_Perhaps not. However the Black Wings are like a cockroach that refuses to die: it was my duty then, and it is still my duty to protect Ossyria from their tyranny_. Send me Grendal!" Mercedes said firmly, she and Sylvidia enveloped in a globe of light as Grendal cast the long range teleportation spell, disappearing with the sound of a strong wind.

"Do you think that she'll be alright Grendal?" Athena asked worriedly.

"I can only hope. While she may be level headed, her emotions are still quite high at the moment. But if she does get into more trouble than she can handle, I think that the Guardians will be able to help seeing as they are there as well."

* * *

Finally the Lumiere hovered down just outside of town making Phantom quickly run to the bow of the ship and use the pod to clamber down, even before the ship had come to a full stop. At last after all this time, he would be able to get some justice for Aria's death! Maybe he wouldn't be able to get both of the twins for their act, but at least it was a start. The Black Wings were easy enough to avoid, slipping through the shadows and ducking behind machinery, looking into every room that he came across for where Suu would be. As he searched, a cold chill ran down his back making him look towards a darkened place of the mines.

"_That has to be it._" he thought to himself, checking his corners to make sure no one there before pushing off the wall behind him in a flash of blue light and dark feathers. Closing his eye, he enabled the spell of Raven's eye and saw streams of something seeping under a door before him: they appeared to be streams of Life Force that had been left behind when something left. In the back of his mind, he could hear Aria telling him that this was some sort of trap but he pushed it aside, checking the door to see if it was locked and pushed through it without any effort. Feeling along the wall, he found a switch, igniting the area in a blaze of dull yellow light revealing what appeared to be a young boy suspended with in a tank of strange blue liquid while a machine hummed off to one side with pressure gauges and computer screens displaying vital signs.

"_This is where you are stopped Suu! You will pay for what you did to Aria!_" His mind screamed, reaching for the sword within his cane and drawing it out with a quick slithering ring while raising it high above his head. But he stopped, looking down at the machines that were keeping this boy alive and looked back at the tank. Evidence of the boy's injuries was still apparent. The right side of his chest and torso appeared to be malformed, while parts of his right arm were missing flesh. The left side of his face had three trenches of scar tissue and his left leg was nothing but twisted and knarred flesh. Phantom almost felt sorry for the boy seeing himself after he had nearly been beaten to death by Raven as part of his 'training'… nearly. The icy feeling of vengeance took over once again as he raised his sword, bringing it down as hard as he could on the control board, and just when the blade was to make contact with the first consol, his entire body froze.

"_Now now Phantom, I can't have you doing that; I still have plans for you. You see now that you are standing right next to my body, I can take over you easily. Now I'm going to make you watch as I use you to kill Empress Cygnus, the long lost relative of your beloved Aria."_

"_NO! I WON'T LET YOU!_" Phantom thought, fighting against himself with all he had as he picked up his cane sheath, put the sword back into it and turned to leave the mine; it did little good as he was soon tired, watching himself walk through the mines without so much as a care, and when any soldiers tried to stop him, were quickly reduced to bleeding corpses. The harder Phantom tried to get Suu to stop what he was doing, the less he felt he could do as he walked out of the mines and began walking back for town. Once there, he watched himself weave through people, all of them completely unaware of the monster that Phantom had become at the moment.

"_I have to get free! I have to get help!"_

"_That won't be happening any time at all, Phantom. We are still in Edelstein and my power over you is still far more than you could ever hope to overcome."_ Phantom cursed at Suu as loud as he could think, but even then it did nothing but make him feel like a fool as he walked into the gardens of Edelstein where he quickly recognized the Empress leaning against a flower bed's railing: Yes she had died her hair black, and she may be wearing a long fitted black leather gown secured around her waist with three metal clasps that was rather unbecoming of the Empress he had met before. But under all of that dark makeup and black atire, he could see the gentle and somewhat naïve Empress.

"_Now watch as I destroy both her and you._" Suu's mind thought, smiling as he walked over to her, Phantom doing all he could fight him off but quickly losing.

"Excuse me, are you Black Phoenix?" Phantom Suu asked. Cygnus turned her head, recognizing him instantly but pausing when something about Phantom's complexion seemed off; she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Why yes I am; are you the one I was to meet here in the gardens Phantom?" Phantom screamed and yelled in his own mind for her to go away, but they all went unheard.

"Yes actually, I have some information for you that might be of interest to you on what it is the Black Wings are up to." Cygnus raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in interest, her shoulders relaxing and taking a less aggressive stance.

"Oh?"

"They are planning to kill a person of great importance in Ossyria."

"I see; did you happen to find out who this person is?" She asked, her body visibly becoming tense again as her left arm reached behind her for something.

"Yes. IT'S YOU!" Suu reached for the Cane Sword in a blur, drawing it in an upward cross as it was deflected by Cygnus' short sword. But with the Cane Sword being so much lighter than the short sword, he quickly redirected it and sliced through her forearm, redirecting it once again and aiming for her torso when she was thrown aside from blocking it with her sword. Cygnus tumbled for a bit, digging the tip of the sword into the ground to help stop her when Suu was already on her, allowing only enough time for her to bring up her sword and deflect the blow to the side.

But again, Suu's lighter sword allowed him to attack quicker than she could block and again cut through her forearm, this time the pain made her lose her grip and drop her sword. She was then subject to a stiff kick to the chest, breaking her arm when she tried to block it, tossing her into the railing until the same foot hit her shoulder and threw her to the ground in a blur of motion, holding her down with a foot in the center of her chest.

"And now, Cygnus, you die!" Phantom mentally grit his teeth, fighting through the control over him, but still not having enough to overcome Suu's power as his body began to drive the sword down.

"_NOOOOOOOO!_" Just before the sword was to pierce her chest, a flash of bright light surrounded Phantom, stopping just an inch from her skin.

"That's enough." A woman's voice firmly announced, making Suu feel as though something were pushing him out of Phantom's body, something many times more powerful that he; it felt warm and comfortable, passionate and furious. A power like this was something that Suu had never felt before and was quickly pushed out of Phantom's mind. Once he was, he saw the glow around Phantom take on a human form, settling on the ground and helping Cygnus to her feet.

"Impossible! Your Life force already joined with the Life Stream! How could you still be here, Empress Aria!" Suu demanded. Aria smiled sadly, walking to the hovering boy and standing to her full height.

"It may seem sad to some, but Phantom was the reason I didn't completely go to the Life Stream. I have been protecting him for some time against you. But now, your treachery end here, Lotus."

"NEVER, call me by that name! Only my sister has the right to call me by such name!"Suu sneered, pushing his finger into her face.

"Then I won't. There is some good in you. I saw it just before you were attempting to end my life; Shinsoo broke free of your sister's hold and was coming for you. She tried to stop him by standing between you and he, but at the last moment you pushed your sister out of the way so that you would take the attack instead of she." Suu was visibly shaken at this revelation, his upper lip curling and quivering.

"If that wretched Dragon had died as he should have in Orca's grip, there would have been no need!"

"You try and put on such a strong mask Suu, and yet you live a tormented life; torn between the duty to your master and protecting you sister."

"My sister has nothing to do with the choices I make. I will kill her if it means that she has become too weak minded to do what needs to be done! I would sooner be destroyed than fail my master." Aria sadly bowed her head, biting her lower lip.

"I see. I don't have the power to destroy you, nor would I want to if I did. However I _can_ ensure that you will never possess another person, ever again." Holding her hand up, Suu crossed his arms to block the intense light that shone from it, making Suu's ghostly form disappear leaving the three of them alone in the gardens. At first Phantom was hesitant to approach her, wounds of the past being suddenly ripped opened at the sight of her transparent form. But when Aria turned and placed a gentle hand on the side of his face, it all became real to him.

"Phantom, you used to be smarter than this, you bull headed fool. Why did you let the rage and this foolish quest for revenge keep you from moving on with your life?"

"I couldn't… I can't let… They stole from me the most precious of treasures! How could I leave that unpunished?" Phantom asked collapsing to his knees as Aria hugged him close to her chest: though there was no heartbeat that he could hear, he could still feel the warmth of her soul, heavy tears welling in his eyes.

"Phantom, my dear Phantom, I never had the chance to tell you thank you for being there for me while I was alive. I had been thrust into being Empress at a young age, and I was lost. You gave me a direction to know what it was that I needed to do: that is a debt that I could never repay. However I am sorry for leaving you with such a heavy burden, caging a free bird in a world of unending battle on the night that we first met." She cooed, as she tightened her embrace to try and ease this fresh pain in his heart.

"Aria… You didn't cage me. I chose the life of a thief, but it was empty, meaningless. I'm just sorry that I couldn't share my life with you. I'm sorry that I left you with so many regrets." Aria firmly pulled Phantom away from her, wiping his tears and looking his square in the eyes intensely.

"Basim, I have no regrets for the time I had with you. I don't want you to remember the time we shared as a saddened memorial. Let go of the sadness, and remember the good times that we shared. I am happy to have left Ossyria of the past in your hands and the hands of the other Heroes." Looking up from her kneeling position she motioned for Cygnus to come over, touching her arms and instantly healing the wounds inflicted on her by Suu.

"My great niece; for how you have led the people I am proud, for without you there would be no future." Cygnus bowed slightly to her when Aria's body started to dematerialize, bits of light floating away into the breeze.

"I'm afraid that it's time for me to go my beloved Phantom."

"Aria…"

"Phantom, I will always be here." She answered, pointing to his chest as she began to float away, but not before she pulled herself closer and kissed him, holding it until the last of her faded from existence into the sky.

"_Aria… goodbye…_" he thought when he felt a slender hand on his shoulder, falling on his hands once she was completely gone, no long able to hold back the sorrow that so desperately wanted out, shutting his eyes as a heart rending bawl escaped his lips and tears stained the ground around him; healing for the massive pain in his soul had finally begun to work when he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, turning back to see who it was.

* * *

Luminous stirred, quickly sitting up and holding out his hand making his staff be drawn to it, readying to fight when he recognized that he was still in Chryse.

"You took quite a beating surface man. I've never seen anyone with your abilities." A woman's voice said, walking over to the bed where he was laying and sitting down holding out and tiny piece of cloth for him to use to wipe his face.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was blacking out in the arena."

"It's strange that you should ask that small one. Your entire body radiated a power that no one here has ever seen. Once you had defeated the Armored Scorpions, you seemed as if you were exhausted and my brother stepped in to keep you from getting squashed." Luminous nodded, Taking the cloth and wiping the back of his neck and arms, turning the cloth brown from all the dust that had accumulated on his skin.

"So I take it that I won't be facing this beast that you're having problems with?" He asked, looking down at the bracer and seeing that both sides of it were blank.

"Actually, the Chief gave the order that you would be the one to face him. You power impressed him, and he feels that you stand a better chance than any of us. My name is Michaela by the way." Luminous nodded his greeting, realizing what it was that she had said a few moments before.

"I'm to face this creature?" Michaela Nodded, looking away for a bit.

"Well actually, I persuaded my father the chief to let you face Xerxes." Luminous tilted his eyebrows: this girl wasn't telling him the entire story about this creature Xerxes.

"Xerxes was actually my pet ram before all of this happened. He's actually a very gentle creature, but something made him into the power hungry mongrel that he is now. A bright flash of pink light hurtled through the town and struck poor Xerxes in the head, knocking him out. But when he finally came to, it was all we giants could do to escape his tirade at the main coliseum. Many have gone to try and defeat him, thinking that by doing so it would return him to his former state, but not one has yet to do so: Please, you seem to be the best suited for the task since you carry crystals in your staff similar to the one that hit Xerxes." Luminous took a breath and nodded, thinking over the possibilities that could have turned such a gentle creature into the war monger that her was about to face.

"The Light that hit your pet was called a Master Aurora Crystal and isn't used as a power _source_ but is used as a power amplifier. If your pet ram had power, it must have been amplified too fast and became too far out of his control." Luminous answered, pulling on his outer robe which was lying on the bed next to him.

"Please, you have to be able to do something to save my precious Xerxes." Michaela begged, sliding to her knees next to the bed to face Luminous as he made sure his robe was secure and began making his way to the door.

"I make no promises; I've only come for the crystal. It will be his will alone that determines if he lives or not." Michaela was shaken by this man's indifference to her concern: maybe he wasn't the best choice to face Xerxes. Maybe they were better off trying to defeat him on their own.

"How can you say such a thing?! What would you do if someone you cared for was suddenly over taken by something that you had no control over?!" The question made Luminous stop, his thoughts instantly turning to that of Lania and what Beuwon had said about her.

"It's crossed my mind on occasion." He answered coldly, going through the door and looking around where he was, seeing a dark cloud hanging over the southernmost part of the city.

"_That must be where Xerxes has set up camp, since that is where the power of the Aurora Crystal is coming from." _he thought, cracking his neck and beginning for the dark arena. As he walked, the words Michaela had asked him kept coming to mind: What would he do if the darkness within Lania did take over and turn her into a monster that he couldn't help? There was so much about her that reminded him of Lucia, even her personality was close: he already lost her once to a surprise attack by the Black Wings just after his training with Minerva, and he didn't want to lose her again. Thoughts of her continuously somersaulted through his mind, numbing him to the eyes that watched his every move. As he neared the Coliseum, his focus was brought back to the surface by something rushing past him and knocking him to the ground.

"I see that another has come to face me." A mischievous voice said, turning around in his large stone chair and lifting his eyebrows high when he saw Luminous.

"A human sent to face the powerful Xerxes? My my; how far these giants have fallen." The Ram said, turning back to his forward facing position and tapping on the arm of his chair as small legs from under it picked it up and turned around. On his head were gaudy chains of gold, while rings pierced his nose and ears and even more gold ropes hung around his magnificent horns.

"You'll find that I am no ordinary human." Luminous growled, getting to his feet and brushing the dust from his sleeves before taking a stance, the crystals in his staff glowing brightly, resonating with the one embedded within Xerxes forehead.

"Ah! I see you have brought me a tribute of more crystals. Give them to me, and I will let you leave here alive." Xerxes demanded, holding out his hoof. Luminous lowered his eyebrows and bared his teeth while his right eye began glowing bright red.

"You've got it wrong goat, I am here to take that crystal from you!" he growled, disappearing in a blur of dark color and reappearing leaping through the air as light gathered on the staff. Xerxes sensed a rise in power from him, leaning to the side as his stone throne moved, avoiding the spread of Sylvan Lance spears that hurtled into the ground. No sooner had Xerxes avoided the attack then his throne was thrown into the air when spear chains made of dark power ruptured the ground below, throwing him back to the ground hard when rough stones of dark power fell from the sky.

Xerxes wasn't about to let this _human_ get the better of him, holding his arms out as the crystal in his head glowed, gathering dark light and attaching itself to Xerxes body. Luminous didn't want to give him any time to do anything as Light surrounded his staff, curling around his staff and up his arm to intensify his power when Xerxes threw his arms out, instantly surrounding Luminous in black.

"Nice try!" Luminous bellowed, crossing his arms and throwing them out hard as a dome of light erupted from his body, pushing away the darkness as though it were a cloud. But when Luminous looked around for Xerxes, he didn't see him anywhere until something caught his attention from above to see Xerxes chair slamming down with enough force that the ground collapsed, blowing dust high into the air and making the walls of the coliseum tremble.

"No one opposes the great Xerxes!" he shouted with pleased distain.

"Don't count us humans so weak!" Luminous growled, making Xerxes look behind him where the mage stood and unleashed a stream of light, pinning Xerxes against the wall struggling to bring his arms to the front and begin to push the beam back. But his balance was suddenly shifted forward when then the beam cut out, causing him to fall forward where dark chains of power sprang from the ground, slashing through the flesh on his neck as he tried to move.

Before Xerxes had a chance to even recover from the attack, Luminous had already summoned a ball of dark energy, hurling it towards the ram as peels of thunder reverberated through the arena as it neared. Just before the orb hit, Xerxes pushed off his chair, running to another part of the arena only to be followed by the orb, narrowly missing being hit by the deadly lightning hissing from it. With another burst of speed he ran back to his throne, holding his hands wide as dark light began surrounding him again, the crystal in his head glowing brightly.

"No you don't!" Luminous hissed as light swirled around his staff and up his arm again, allowing him to teleport before him in a flash of light, temporarily blinding Xerxes and giving him enough time to hold his staff above his head and solidify dark magic into stones. With a hard swing he struck Xerxes across the face then kicked off of him as the stones slammed down onto him, raising a cloud of dust. For a few moments, the battle was brought to a stop allowing Luminous to catch his breath; he never knew that any one Aurora crystal could be used to such an extent. Imagine what he could do is he could use all five of the Aurora crystals like this! He didn't want to drag the battle on any longer than he needed, smiling with nauseating excitement as he looked down to the bracer on his arm, gritting his teeth when he saw that only the dark side of it was full.

"_This equilibrium is almost more trouble than it's worth!_" he thought, looking further up his arm so see a large gash in his shoulder, waking him from the dark frenzy he had been in.

"_When did I get that?_" he wondered, watching as Xerxes stumbled from the dust cloud, one of his horns broken off and a small bruise on the top of his head.

"How dare you defy the great Xerxes! I will crush you!" he shouted, holding his hoof forward as his throne erupted from the dust, leaving Luminous just enough time to slam the end of his staff into the ground, summoning his light barrier and breaking the chair into rubble.

"No Xerxes, it is you that _I_ will defeat!" Luminous shouted, holding his staff high, drawing light into the center of the head while wings sprouted from the top, until the light ruptured from the staff, curling around Luminous and healing the gash in his arm. However Xerxes was thrown back by the explosion of light, hurtling into the wall. For a moment, Xerxes didn't move making Luminous think that he had defeated him when the crystal in his forehead glowed, picking him off the ground saturating his body with the light that came from it.

"You think yourself superior to me?! THERE IS NO SUCH BEING!" he shouted, disappearing in a blur of color as he leaned to the right. Luminous readied himself for any attacks, looking this way and that while keeping the spell for his Sylvan Lance at the ready when something hit him in the gut hard, knocking his staff away from him. Luminous tried to right himself, but he was hit from the left, momentarily stopping his motion when he was hit from behind. Again and again he was hit from different angles, each one throwing him in another direction until Xerxes drove him into the wall with one hoof.

"Now you have no power to call upon. I will show you what happens to those that try to defy me." As he held Luminous by the throat and drew back his other hoof, power gathered around it as he readied to attack when he stopped, seeing a dark smile on this pompous mage's face.

"What's so funny mage? Have you lost your sanity?" Xerxes asked as the spell continued to grow in his hoof.

"You forget, I can still use the one embedded in your head!" in a quick motion, Luminous slammed both feet on Xerxes chest making him fall back and loosen his grip then held his hand over the Aurora crystal as mana flowed through it, light engulfing the two of them until a huge explosion shot both of them in different directions. Luminous awoke to find himself swallowing a mouthful of dirt, spitting it out hesitantly since his head would throb with each cough or movement that he made. As he spat he pulled himself to his feet, hobbling over to his staff and shook the dust from the crystals when he saw Xerxes slumped against the wall, blood soaking the fur on his head where the crystal had been, now stabbed into the ground next to him. As Luminous reached for the crystal, he was surprised when Xerxes set a hoof on his hand: Luminous readied to attack but the light in the ram's eyes was no longer the hard florescence of blood lust; it was that of someone who was desperate for salvation.

"Let me go ram, I cannot save you." Luminous said coldly, pulling his hand with the crystal from under his hoof and beginning to walk away.

"No wait." Xerxes reached up and shakily undid the red collar from around his neck and held it out to him, shaking and struggling with all he had.

"Give this to my master Michaela. Tell her… I…" But before he could finish, Xerxes fell to the ground and let out the air he had been holding as his eyes became dull. Luminous hung his head for a moment before looking to the sky and letting out a long sigh, picking up the collar and heading back for town, unsure of what he was going to tell Michaela while trying to rationalize what he had done.

"_It was for the best. The power he gained could only lead to this one inevitable end._" But no matter what he told himself, it always seemed that he had actually killed Xerxes just to get his hands on the Aurora crystal: was the Dark Magic within him turning him into this monster? And was his endeavor to get back the Master Crystals going to lead to his own end? The questions only mounted as he walked into town, already feeling the searing stares of everyone as he made his way to Michaela's house, where she waited with hopeful anticipation for his return.

"Luminous! Were you able to…" Luminous interrupted her question by shaking his head slightly, holding out the collar to her.

"The power he controlled led to his demise." Michaela reached for the collar, devastated, bringing it close to her chest while fighting back tears.

"I don't know whether to thank you or curse you." The chief growled in his throat, putting his arms around Michaela and holding her tight.

"Think of me what you will but I did what I could, and this was the end result. I do sincerely apologize for the outcome, but your problem is now resolved, and the power that he was infected with will no longer haunt this place since I am taking it with me." Luminous answered, holding up the crystal between his thumb and forefinger.

"Then go… Go and never return to this place." the chief responded angrily, pointing towards where he had come in, quickly surrounded by more of the giants each having their weapons ready. Luminous smirked, turning around and heading for the edge of the land with the giants shuffling up behind him, some even wanting to poke him with their weapons.

Just before he was near the edge, Luminous made sure his grip around the Master Crystal was tight then ran and jumped off the edge, free falling for miles until he was close to the ground of Orbis where a strong updraft slowed his decent so that the last few feet to the ground was not as sudden, met by Ericson and Kriel.

"Did you manage to help them?" she asked and Luminous held out the crystal.

"I wouldn't suggest sending humans there any time soon." He mused, walking towards the port where he hoped to find an airship to return to the Golem's temple and have this new edition to his staff mounted. Only one more crystal to go, and he would again be at full power!

* * *

Claudine squinted her eyes against the pounding in her head, pushing against her eyes which lessened the pain when a heartless voice scared her.

"Good, you've awoken." The voice said. Claudine turned around quickly to see Clytemnestra standing outside her cell with a callous smile on her inexpressive face.

"Where have you taken me?!" Claudine demanded, hurriedly getting to her feet when a surge of something shot through her, bringing her back to her hands and knees

"You needn't worry about that. For now all you need to know is that you are here, in this cell, talking with me." Clytemnestra responded, summoning a seat to come over to her and gracefully sitting down.

"Talk? You kidnapped me to talk?" Claudine hissed.

"Yes."

"What is there to talk about? You killed so many people and injured Minerva knows how many more when you brought Ereve down on us all."

"The loss of lives is regrettable, but necessary in the evolution of Ossyria."

"Evolution? You call what you did to those people Evolution?! It was slaughter!"

"What do you think happened when Minerva and Corus fought for the Rubian? What happened when The Black Mage and she fought and he was sealed? What happened when the Guardians eliminated the Black Mage 18 years ago? It is all part of a bigger evolution that you and I are a part of. I am simply helping it along."

"By killing everyone in Ossyria?!" Claudine shouted, feeling another wave of something pass through her and drop her to the ground when it was over.

"Without the total eradication of Olde Sapp, Ossyria wouldn't be able to exist. I am the emissary that will bring a new chapter of existence to this world; a world without war, without hunger, without tears; where no one will _ever_ have to mourn over the loss of their little brother ever again." Claudine looked up to her with scorn in her eyes: how did this woman know of her brother? The only one of the Black Wings that knew of that was Oberon and The Black Mage himself.

"What do you want from me?" She growled. Clytemnestra's smile became less callous as she leaned forward and folded her hands.

"All I need from you are the remaining Seals of Ossyria. If you hand those over to me, I will make you an important leader when I next create this world." Clytemnestra answered smoothly. Claudine thought it over for a moment: the promise of no more strife was defiantly pleasing to her, but there was also the fact that this woman knew about her brother when she hadn't told her anything about him.

"You can keep your promise of power to yourself." Claudine answered. Clyemnestra's smile slowly distorted into a half grinning hybrid of livid and faked kindness until she quickly stood, rushing to the bars of Claudine's cell, dragging her from her knees into the air.

"Then you can either tell me where the seals are hidden within Edelstein, and I will make sure that your death is quick. Or you can watch as one by one I start killing those you care about most before obliterating Edelstein from the face of Ossyria unless you tell me where they are hidden." She rasped, squeezing tighter around her neck until she let go and let her drop to the ground, waiting in agitated anticipation for Claudine's answer which was only given as a hard stare.

"Very well then, your loved one's it is." Clytemnestra spat, turning and walking from the dungeon with hard and far reaching steps. Claudine curled into a ball on the floor as tears began forming in her eyes.

"_What have I done?"_ She asked herself, her cries echoing through the stone corridors.

* * *

In a blaze of light, Sylvidia and Athena appeared just outside of the Verne Mines, taking a minute to get their bearings before Mercedes jumped on Sylvidia's back and thundered in. Hanging lights whizzed by her head and Sylvidia's shoes sparked off the rocks she ran over, passing a long since abandoned mechanic's shop, old heavy hauler trucks and jack hammers, broken and burned down barracks; scars of a long forgotten battle. At last she came to a portion of the cave that opened up slightly, looking around when she saw a door that was open ajar, seeing a dirty stuffed bunny rabbit leaning against the back of a wine red couch.

"_I know that toy._" She thought, dismounting Sylvidia and walking towards the door with Sylvidia close behind.

_"What is it master?_" Sylvidia asked, sniffing the air.

"_Something I remember from a long time ago._" Mercedes answered, pushing the door open and stepping in, feeling as though she had been taken back in time: everywhere she looked was as if it were a rough recreation of her room in Ellul. From behind her a scraping noise hissed as Mercedes looked back to see a young girl with long, thin pigtails of white hair close the door behind them, instantly grabbing her bowguns while the bolts glowed ferociously.

"I didn't think you'd actually come here Mercedes. It's been what? Over 600 years since I saw you?" She asked, hovering to the ground and walking over the couch, where she picked up the doll and began stroking its head.

"Even though you ripped my heart apart all those years, I've still held onto this one gift that you gave to me." She said while the words said made Mercedes take a harder look at the girl before her, trying to remember where she had seen someone like her before when the girl took her low brimmed hat from her head and set it aside, recognition instantly coming to Mercedes.

"Orchid?"

"You do still remember; what a relief." Orca answered playfully, hugging the stuffed animal closer.

"What happened to you? Your entire being reeks of Black Magic!" Mercedes asked with a shocked tone, dropping her arms to her sides.

"I joined up with the Black Mage soon after I left Ellul, and created the Black Wings as a following to him. I created this faction for you; gained power for you; I did it all for you my dear Mercedes. There's no way that you can ignore my feelings for you now."

"Orchid, you've killed hundreds, if not thousands of people! Not to mention helping in Empress Aria's death; even if it all this was to gain my affections, what you've done is so far from forgiveness that I would be surprised if Minerva herself would forgive you." Orchid twitched, the fanatical smile on her face flinching as though trying to keep her composure.

"But, I did it for you! So you wouldn't have to fight! So that we could be together for…" Ocra's sentence was stopped short when Mercedes leveled one of her bow guns at her, the bolt within it glowing brighter as vines of light curled up her legs and over her arm.

"Mercedes?" She asked, stammering a bit as she watched her trigger hand tense around the stock of the gun.

"You have killed too many innocent people Orchid. I wish that I could have stopped you before all of this happened, but I can't. You were like a sister to me, and yet you joined with the one man that wants to bathe the entire world in blood, innocent blood that you helped spill!" Orca backed away slightly, stumbling for an answer.

"No, no I wasn't… I didn't… I created the Black Wings to impress you! To bring myself to a position where we could see each other as equals; you were born a princess! What would you know of the frustration I went through to be your equal?"

"Even so Orchid, You have committed so many atrocities against Ossyria, and if you won't stop by my asking and face the judgment due, then I will have no choice but to stop you here!" Mercedes growled, holding the gun further out and taking aim for her head, struggling to pull the trigger on her gun as memories from so long ago when the two of them had a much simpler life came to her; before her princess coronation, before her training to be queen, the two of them were happy together. Finally the memories made her loosen her grip on the trigger, lowering her gun and hanging her head.

"_I can't do it._" She thought, looking back up into Orchid's eyes which burned with an angry light as she began breathing harder.

"You _STILL_ won't love me?! Why?! TELL ME WHY!" Orchid shouted, her voice beginning to break.

"Because I will never be able to return the feelings you want me to." Mercedes replied. Something in Orca snapped, throwing the stuffed toy to the side and lifting into the air while black power seeped from her body as smoke.

"I thought that you could change Mercedes, but I was a fool for thinking a thing was possible." With a perturbed grunt, she hurled a sphere of power at Mercedes who leapt out of the way, landing on her hand and flipping back as another sphere of power shot at her. When Mercedes landed, she crossed her arms over her chest, closing her eyes and mumbling a spell as quickly as she could; behind her a golden goblet appeared accompanied by two fire sprites. Each one poured a small something into the goblet which roared to life as a flame while pale green flames surrounded Mercedes. In a burst of speed she charged after Orca, taking aim as the bolts became a blaze of fire, tearing through the air which Orca blocked using bursts of her power, launching another sphere of power through the smoke of Mercedes' destroyed arrows.

As the Sphere neared, Mercedes spoke an incantation as quickly as she could, barely finishing as a being with delicate wings appeared, holding her hands out to Mercedes creating a barrier of water around her, deflecting the orb. However it was quickly dissipated because of the corrosive effect Orca's Black Magic had on all abilities. Without giving Mercedes a chance to react, Orca teleported to her slamming an attack spell into her chest and sending her careening into the wall before teleporting behind her and hitting her again with the same spell. Over and over she would slam the powerful spell into Mercedes' body until at last, she was given a chance to counter when Orca stopped to catch her breath.

Mercedes lurched to her feet, grabbing her guns once more and calling upon the Fire Goblet and Gaia Advance as ferns and fire appeared in a green light on her body. Jumping into the air, Mercedes shot forward in a shell of green light, making Orca teleport away as a barrage of arrows pummeled the ground where she had stood a moment before. When Orca turned to face her again, she quickly swung her hand as a blazing bolt shot at her, bursting into a shower of embers, teleporting away again when Mercedes came rushing at her and slammed the tip of her gun into the ground making a giant corkscrew shoot up from under the ground. Minutes passed like seconds as the two of them shot around the room in a blur of light and dark colors, portions of Orca's room walls being reduced to rubble, or lighting things on fire as spells or arrows buzzed all around them until the two of stopped, panting a heaving for breath.

"_This isn't good; I only have enough energy and mana for one last attack and I have to make it count. Although Orchid can't be doing much better; she seems weaker than I remember. It's a good thing too, otherwise I might not still be alive._" Mercedes thought, her chest burning as though she were breathing the fire in the room while Orca once again stood to her unstable legs and tossed one of her pig-tails aside, holding up her palm as dark energy swirled into it.

"You spared me because you didn't have the resolve to do what you thought needed to be done. However my shattered heart doesn't have the moral block that you do. Goodbye, your highness." She hissed, feeding the ball of energy her dark mana, making it even larger and more powerful.

"_NOW!_" Mercedes thought, the ferns of her Gaia Advance wrapped around her legs, down her arms and up to her cheeks as she shot forward in a blast of wind. Just as she moved, Orca released the energy she had been building, missing her by a hair's breadth as she jumped over the orb back fist, shooting to the ground in a flash of green light and slamming the end of her gun so hard into the ground that sparks sprayed from the impact. Orca realized what was going to happen, but she was too tired to do anything about it as the giant corkscrew once again burst from the ground and tossed her into the air, tearing through her thigh as it rose.

With a majestic yet sad lift of her arms, Mercedes jumped into the air where delicate green fairy wings sprouted from her back and hung her there like a stunning bird of prey until she disappeared in a whirl of burning mana around Orca. The wind created put out the flames until she skidded to a stop behind Orchid with her arms crossed over her chest, the Spirit Arrow orbs having gone dark since she no longer had any mana. Orca hung in the air for a moment, her surprised gasps wheezing in the silence of the cave before beginning to fall back to the ground.

"_Mercedes… Mercedes… My love Mercedes… why?_" her mind whimpered before she hit the ground as a mess of blood, pain and arrows embedded in her body while tears formed in her eyes and streaked her dirt smudged face and blood stained her hair. Mercedes stood once more, looking down at one of her bow guns, and noticing that the Spirit Arrow on one of them came back to life causing her to walk to where Orca lay, heaving and sputtering for breath as blood bubbled from her lips. The sight was heartbreaking for Mercedes, holding her gun aimed for her head as a bolt formed and tightened the bow, convincing herself that she was not only saving Ossyria from _one_ of the generals, but also providing a mercy. She never wanted to make any person or creature suffer, even if they were her best of friends, or her worst enemies.

"Goodbye, Orchid." She whispered, tightening her grip on the trigger when a sound caught her attention. She looked around for a bit, dreading that it was more Black Wings since she had neither the strength nor mana to face anyone else at this point, but instead saw the familiar flamboyant fez and blue scarf of Phantom walking out of the cave.

"_What's Phantom doing here?"_ she wondered, quickly following after him when Sylvidia stopped her from hiding in an out of the way crag.

"_Master, what about her?_" she asked, making Mercedes look back to Orchid as she lay on the ground, but not giving and answer as she and Sylvidia left to follow after Phantom. Orca wanted to cry so much, but the pain of her wounds prevented her from doing so: but the pain that made her want to cry wasn't from the physical wounds she sustained. No, these were wounds that no priest, priestess or magic would be able to heal; these were wounds that could only be healed by time, or by one that loved her.

"_Suu, please, help me…. I am afraid." _she whimpered to herself, tears welling in her eyes and streaking down from the corners of her eyes.

* * *

Mercedes followed Phantom through town, almost losing as he entered the gardens but finding him speaking with a woman that resembled the Empress, wearing all black. When Phantom began to attack her, she was about to jump in and help defend the woman. But when she reached for her gun her arms felt like lead, reminding her that right now she needed rest. However when Phantom was about to drive his cane sword through the woman's chest, she forced her spent body to move when she noticed that Phantom had stopped, a glow around his body and heared a strong woman's voice call out.

"That's enough." Mercedes stopped: that voice, she knew that voice! Se watched as something was pushed from Phantom's body, recognizing the boy as Lotus, Orchid's twin brother. She then saw the glow around Phantom take on the shape of a human woman, settling on the ground and helping the woman to her feet.

"Impossible! Your Life force already joined with the Life Stream! How could you still be here, Empress Aria!" Lotus demanded. The woman smiled sadly, walking to the hovering boy and standing to her full height.

"It may seem sad to some, but Phantom was the reason I didn't completely go to the Life Stream. I have been protecting him for some time against you. But now, your treachery end here, Lotus."

"NEVER, call me by that name! Only my sister has the right to call me by such name!" Lotus shouted.

"Then I won't. There is some good in you. I saw it just before you were attempting to end my life; Shinsoo broke free of your sister's hold and was coming for you. She tried to stop him by standing between you and he, but at the last moment you pushed your sister out of the way so that you would take the attack instead of she." Aria said with a gentle tone.

"If that wretched Dragon had died as he should have in Orca's grip, there would have been no need!" Lotus growled, leaning forward in aggression as though readying to attack while Aria's face looked to be one of pity.

"You try and put on such a strong mask Lotus, and yet you live a tormented life; torn between the duty to your master and protecting you sister."

"My sister has nothing to do with the choices I make. I will kill her if it means that she has become too weak minded to do what needs to be done! I would sooner be destroyed than fail my master." Aria sadly bowed her head, biting her lower lip.

"I see. I don't have the power to destroy you, nor would I want to if I did. However I can ensure that you will never possess another person, ever again." Holding her hand up, Lotus crossed his arms to block the intense light that shone from it making his ghostly form disappear, leaving the four of them alone in the gardens. At first Phantom seemed hesitant to approach her, but when Aria turned and placed a gentle hand on the side of his face, Phantom seemed to be breaking.

"Phantom, you used to be smarter than this, you bull headed fool. Why did you let the rage and this foolish quest for revenge keep you from moving on with your life?"

"I couldn't… I can't let… They stole from me the most precious of treasures! How could I leave that unpunished?" Phantom collapsed to his knees as Aria hugged him close to her chest. A small sting stabbed Mercedes in the chest at the sight, but held back her feelings.

"Phantom, my dear Phantom, I never had the chance to tell you thank you for being there for me while I was alive. I had been thrust into being Empress at a young age, and I was lost. You gave me a direction to know what it was that I needed to do: That is a debt that I could never repay. However I am sorry for leaving you with such a heavy burden, caging a free bird in a world of unending battle on the night that we first met." Aria answered, closing her eyes, hugging his head slightly tighter.

"Aria… You didn't cage me. I chose the life of a thief but it was empty, meaningless. I'm just sorry that I couldn't share my life with you; I'm sorry that I left you with so many regrets." Aria firmly pulled Phantom away from her, wiping his tears and looking his square in the eyes intensely.

"Basim, I have no regrets for the time I had with you. I don't want you to remember the time we shared as a saddened memorial. Let go of the sadness and remember the good times that we shared. I am happy to have left Ossyria of the past in your hands and the hands of the other Heroes." Mercedes felt another pang of jealously hit her: she had been training with Phantom for far longer than he knew Aria, and yet she was the only one that knew his real name? She held back her feelings again, watching as she healed the woman's wounds.

"My great Niece, for how you have led the people, I am proud. For without you there would be no future." Mercedes suddenly recognized the woman as the Empress Cygnus, surprised that she would have chosen such a radical appearance change when she noticed that Aria was beginning to dematerialize.

"I'm afraid that it's time for me to go my beloved Phantom." She said sadly, reaching her hand out as she was pulled into the air.

"Aria…"

"Phantom, I will always be here." She answered, pointing to his chest as she began to float away, but not before she pulled herself closer and kissed him, holding it until the last of her faded from existence into the sky. Mercedes slowly walked over to Phantom as he knelt on the ground, still holding his hand in the air as though waiting for her to come back to him, hearing him let out a heart wrenching sob and placed a hand on his shoulder. The touch made him look back to see Mercedes, quickly standing and wiping his eyes as though trying to appear his usual overconfident self.

"Phantom, it's alright… you _can_ feel sorrow for her." Mercedes said, not knowing if she were speaking to him, or speaking aloud to herself until Phantom closed his eyes, draping his head over her shoulder and putting his arms around her waist. His shaky breaths were matched by Mercedes own, knowing that she left Orchid alone to die in the cave; both of them were breaking apart, but holding each other together.

* * *

It took longer than he wanted, but Luminous finally traveled back to Serenity, feeling almost giddy as he walked into the main chamber and handed the master crystal to Beuwon for him to restart the mine and mount the crystal on his staff. But as he sat waiting for the crystal to be mounted, he began to feel uneasy: looking around Serenity, he didn't find anything and there was nothing wrong with the Golems outside. Still he couldn't get the nagging feeling to go away that something was wrong. Perhaps it was time to go see Lania again since the last time he had seen here was when he put up a barrier around her house: he knew she was a strong woman, but still there was that nagging feeling of something being wrong that would just not leave him.

"Luminous, is everything alright? You look pale." Beuwon asked, handing back the staff to him, waking him from his thoughtful trance when the surge of power in the staff hit him.

"I don't know master. I've felt uneasy ever since I've returned: I've looked everywhere for something to be wrong and nothing that I can see is wrong, yet I can't shake this feeling." Beuwon nodded, setting his holographic hand on his shoulder.

"When was the last time you saw Lania?" he asked. Luminous shook his head in uncertainty.

"Then go see her. While I may have warned you that your presence will make her darkness stronger, your presence will also make her will to stay as she is stronger as well. You are good for her on many levels too Luminous." Luminous nodded: perhaps he was right. Quickly he left the temple, finding his baring and beginning to flit here in there in bursts of light to close the distance faster towards the little house they had live in for a long time just outside of Ellinia.

When he was near though, he thought he heard Lania call out as though trying to fight off something, making him run and teleport all the faster until he was before the house were a dozen or so Black Wings soldiers stood, tearing through the gardens and shrubs around the house. Rage over took him, bursting onto the property in a blaze of light impaling the first of the soldiers with his staff before hurling him into another as his Sylvan Lance tore through their bodies. The other soldiers came to stop him after the initial attack, but they two were quickly taken care of by either being thrown from Luminous' path and knocked out, or being stricken down where they stood. He didn't stop until he burst through the door to see Lania slumped over in the arms of Clytemnestra, who was breathing some sort of spell into her mouth.

"Get away from her you filthy SCUM!" Luminous shouted, swinging his staff hard enough that it whistled, launching a small orb of light with swirls trailing from it that slammed into Clytemnestra and sent her breaking down a wall of the house into a nearby tree. Luminous ran to the opening, holding his staff forward as light gathered at the end in the shape of a seal while the center began to fill with burning mana and light. Clytemnestra rocked her head, wiping her lip of the dark blood that dripped from her pale lips with the back of her thumb.

"You've come a long way mage, but you still have far to go. The game is almost half over, and it is in my favor." She said silkily before Luminous grit his teeth hard, firing off the light he had gathered in a powerful stream of sharp arrows, cutting through the thick tree and knocking it to the ground. When he had finished, the only thing that remained were the dead or knocked out Black Wings soldiers laying around the house. Quickly he returned to Lania where she lay on the ground, moaning in discomfort until Luminous cradled her and woke her.

"Luminous? LUMINOUS!" she shouted, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"I'm here Lania, I'm here." He replied, as relief came to her while clinging to Luminous shirt just reveling in his presence. Deeper into the forest, Clytemnestra held her hand over a wound in her waist, healing it over as the frame and Arkarium appeared behind her.

"What are you doing your Highness?"

"Creating a failsafe." She replied nonchalantly, watching with contempt and self appointed humor as the two of them embraced: Luminous was only fooling himself in thinking that he could control what he had awakened.

* * *

"With healing all your wounds as of late, people might think I'm becoming a priestess." Hilla growled as the last of Orca's wounds healed over when Magnus sauntered into the room, crossing his arms and looking down at Orca as she lay on the bed, noting her downtrodden demeanor.

"What's wrong with the brat?" he asked bluntly.

"She was in a battle with Mercedes." Hilla replied flatly. Magnus huffed and shook his head: the girl was powerful yes, but ever since Suu had been confined to the suspension tank she was almost useless to them. Once his interest had been sated, he left in a huff. Hilla typed on the keyboard again when she saw something in the scans, and smirked to herself.

"_Won't Clytemnestra be interested to see this._" she thought, getting up from the control board and walking with a provocative switch in her step. When Orca no longer heard Hilla's steps, she stiffly sat up and walked over to the monitors with the help of the desks to see what was on the monitors: she had seen Hilla's smirk and wanted to know what she was smiling about. What she read on the screen made her heart sink and stumble into the chair, keeping her caterwaul low while pulling her knees up and bury her face.

"_My body can no longer produce enough mana to sustain any spells, and without that, I am no longer of any use. I have to escape before I'm killed because of this_." she thought, getting up and looking out to the hall to find that she was in Ereve. Quickly she ran through the halls, trying to stay out of sight of the other Black Wings and the Shadow Knights. Soon she was outside the Palace, running as fast as she could until she came across a house with drying laundry. She was rather small, so even children's clothes would do: quickly she spotted some plain looking clothes, tore them from the line and changed into them, leaving her Black Wings uniform behind. She could never return to the Black Wings, nor could she seek asylum from The Guardians, the Empress, The High Guard or the Heroes: she was on her own.


	15. Chapter 14: Lock to Position Two

Chapter 14: Lock to Position Two

"No! We aren't leaving without her!" Checky screamed over his outer com, stepping out from his cover and firing both guns on his arms at Skeleth while the barrels slowly turned bright orange. Matthew growled in frustration, bolting out from his cover and charging for Skeleth to unleash a powerful shockwave, only to be dispelled around his hard scales. Jack and Olsen landed hard, skidding backwards until they were standing near where Jenny had taken up a cover.

"It's no use! I can't get through his scales!" Jack called, ducking to the right while Olsen grabbed Jenny and fitted away as his hand came crashing down where they stood a moment before. Helen summoned all the power she could stand, channeling it all into a concentrated beam of her Genesis Light. Unfortunately all the blast did was make Skeleth become even more enraged, launching a sweltering wall of flames at her, deflected momentarily by Lillianne's wall of ice while Helen teleported them both away to a safe distance.

"There has to be a way of hurting these things!" Lillianne shouted.

"Thou art correct Lillianne, however such a way is something we possess not. We then must retreat until our power hath been increased." Lillianne nodded, allowing herself to be teleported to the others: they had been fighting for nearly an hour and all they seemed to be doing was making him madder.

"Checky, we have to go now!" Jenny shouted.

"You can go! But I'm staying until I walk out that gate with Claudine in my arms!" Checky shouted in return, running out from his cover, leaping high into the air with the help of his boosters, forming his hands into a the large jet powered sledgehammer when one of Skeleth's heads turned to him. When it opened its jaw, an orb of energy was growing on his tongue. Jenny looked up when she felt the itch of thick power, seeing Checky headed for the open mouth and knew that there was no way he would survive.

She drew an arrow and forced every last ounce of mana she had as well as a huge portion of Emerald Crystal power into her bow, making the winds gather and howl around the arrow as she launched it, only to be dispelled in the light the energy released. Checky screamed as loud as he could when the power Skeleth had gathered burst from his mouth and enveloped the mech, obliterating it as though it were a paper doll.

24 hours earlier

For the tenth time, Checky looked over her mech, greasing the joints, fine tuning the interface and loading every last inch of the mech he could with bullets and fuel. It had been a week since the attack on Edelstein; Dureau had been busy training to get his strength back and was rather pissed when he found out that Clytemnestra might have been there. He couldn't blame him; he felt almost as much resentment for her right now as Dureau did.

"_No more waiting for The Guardians to do anything about it._" he thought, slumping down into the cockpit and beginning the start up sequence, this time the turbine sounding more aggressive than usual. With a hard clank, he clamped the reloaded Hex Cannon on his arm and readied the auto pilot for the SG-88 to follow him, grabbing a spare power core for Dumia. Just as he was opening the garage door, he saw The Six standing there in front of him blocking his path, each of them looking to be smirking.

"I don't have time for a speech about how doing something like this is…"

"Hey wrench head, we didn't come here to stop you. We came to help." Jack shouted over the buzz of the external speakers catching Checky off guard.

"I had a feeling that you'd try this sooner or later, so we've been waiting. This is your mission Checky, we are yours to lead." Matthew smiled, all six of them kneeling to the ground making Checky swallow the lump in his throat before calling over the heavy lift platform he was going to use in getting to Ereve.

"Get on." He said with a growl, shutting the mech down and making his way to the controls while The Six and Jenny's pet celion Alden filed onto the platform.

"_Thanks you guys._" he thought, easing the platform into the air.

* * *

"That tower is brutal! Please tell me we can use Shinsoo to fly up that tower again." Ashura whined, slumping down on the ground and rubbing her calves as hard as she dared, wincing with each push of her palm into the muscle.

"I wish that I could Lady Asura, but even a dragon such as I can't fly that height in a small area. I would have to fly all the way to the continent just to reach the middle, and none of you would survive the decent down because the air pressure changes would be too severe." Shinsoo replied stretching his chest and reverting to his dragon form, stretching his wings as wide as they would go making his shoulders and wing's shoulders pop multiple times.

"That's always good to know." Vondra laughed, looking around and taking a deep breath of the slightly damp night air of the Omega Sector.

"We should get going though and stop the creature in the portal: Arkarium is only getting closer to undoing the seal if we stall." Starling urged, walking only a few steps when a wall of lights snapped on, blinding all of them with their cutting brilliance in the night.

"Freeze! You are about to enter a restricted space, put your hands up and walk slowly forwards!" a voice commanded.

"I am Commander Starling! My commanding officer Wence should have sent you a message that I and my back up would be coming!" Starling shouted, covering her eyes with her forearm.

"Commander Starling? Cut the lights!" The voice commanded as the sound of large gates unlatched and a man walked out to them dressed in dark blue battle scrubs.

"Sorry about the misunderstanding Commander; the General ordered Omega sector to be put on lock down since that portal appeared."

"It's alright, but it would have helped if you had sent out a warning. Is the portal really that bad?"

"Yes, and it has the Grey's worried; even their rebuilt and buffed cyborg Zeno wasn't able to take out that monstrosity." The soldier said. Latimer whistled, looking back at the others not sure if they would be able to even take on this creature, now that they were down another person since Yoshumari had yet to return. Even so, they had to defeat it to slow Arkarium down further. Walking with the soldier through base and on to where the portal was, not far from the main base of the Greys began to make him and the other guardians feel nervous. Patricia had heard from her parents how this was the place they had first met Yoshumari as the undercover agent Dragon, and how he had overwhelmed them with a display of his Dark Nalcana.

"You guys ready for this?" Starling asked, shoving a new clip of bullets into her pistol, pulling back the slider with a grin. Patricia held her staff almost parallel to the ground, holding her other hand behind it with two fingers up and a calming blue aura lit up their armor plating.

"As ready as we'll ever be." she called as sparks fizzed from the top of her staff in anticipation. Ashura mounted Shinsoo's shoulders, holding her spear back and taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"_Relax your shoulders Princess, otherwise you'll get tired too quickly._" Shinsoo thought to her, making Ashura nod and smile to herself as he repeated to her one of the many lessons that Dances with Bolrog had taught her. Vondra elected herself to be the first to go through as she had greatest maneuverability; a few moments passed until she came back out and nodded for the others to follow, indicating that it was safe for the time being. Once through, they all began looking for the creature that was supposed to be here but everywhere they turned, all that seemed to be here in this particular portal was nothing except a recreation to part of the Omega Sector.

"I don't get it. If this is where the creature is supposed to be, shouldn't we have found it by now?" Ashura asked Latimer, who happened to be the closest one to her at the moment.

"There's no telling how big these portals really are on the inside. For all we know, these portals go on for an infinite amount of space."

"I don't doubt your logic Latimer, but unless some other people came here before we did, there's no telling where that creature could be." Starling called when she had completed her sweep. Shinsoo suddenly felt a prick of something, sparking his protection state slightly, grabbing both Latimer and Starling before jumping back to avoid the missile that struck where they had been. Within moments, Vondra and Patricia were beside them ready for battle when another missile careened in from the sky separating them all once more.

"Shinsoo; to the sky!" Ashura urged, pulling on his feathers as they ascended, tracking trails of smoke to the origin to see a large, black metal cyborg standing with huge fists dragging on the ground. Shinsoo growled when he caught sight of the perpetrator, his full Protection State kicking in when he saw him but hesitating when he felt Ashura's small form pulling on his steel hard feathers.

"_What?!_" he growled angrily.

"Just be sure to let Latimer and Starling down before you attack." She advised as Shinsoo turned his attention back to where the creature stood.

"_That I will Lady Ashura._" He replied with a pleased, gravely thrum deep in his throat. Vondra and Patrica did the best they could to keep up with Shinsoo on the ground as he almost bolted to the ground before tipping his nose up to the sky, setting Starling and Latimer down, then dropping to all fours, slinking around the cyborg ready to pounce. Before Shinsoo had a chance to react, the cyborg raised its hands above its head and slammed them down so hard that a wave of wind pushed them all back.

Shinsoo dug his claws in, preventing him from being blown back, but no sooner had he done that then he was hit in the chest by a missile. Vondra rushed the cybrog through the smoke, holding her daggers to the side as she ran, quickly flipping her second dagger into a reverse hold and launching herself just as the cyborg brought his fist down again, hitting it with a few slashes as she drove past it. It looked down at its torso to the scars in its black metal skin, scanning them with a green light grid.

"Damage taken. Assessment: minimal. Shadow Zeno, Continue Mission." It said, dropping its arm, opening doors on its shoulders and launching a missile for Vondra before she disappeared into the winds. Zeno scanned the horizon, looking for her when he turned around to face Patricia who ran up behind him and slammed the dark glowing head of her staff into his jaw, swinging it up, left, right, left, and back up before hitting him in the gut, sending him skidding back. When Zeno caught himself, he raised his fist, slamming it into the ground making the shock wave push Patricia back. Latimer looked over his shoulder to the Azure Gaia as he waited for a clear shot, standing guard over Ashura while she regained her bearings since Shinsoo had already taken to the skies.

"_Alright Jenny, let's see what this Gaia Cloak you gave me and this Emerald Crystal chip is capable of._" He thought, looking down at the leather bracelet that held the small gem, closing his eyes.

"_OK, just think… I need to find a way to counter that fist action of his, something that will make an equally powerful burst of wind to cancel it out._" A small tingle on his back buzzed making him open his eyes to see the cloak burst into small balls of light, settling on his cross bow where the bolts would go in the shape of some kind of machine that was almost twice the length of the bow. When the light solidified, a narrow bell shaped cylinder had formed with gears and clock springs clicking and clanking on the sides of it, while stands had been formed on the bottom of the crossbow with sharp spikes on the bottom.

"_ok… not exactly, what I had in mind, but let's see what this can do._" He could see Vondra and Patricia taking turns at Zeno, periodically seeing Starling jump in and out of sight, cracking off rounds that would only ricochet off his titanium skin. Stabbing the legs into the ground, he looked down the scope that had formed on the side of the cylinder and set his crosshairs on him. The crosshairs then flashed red while 'stand-by' flashed across his sight. The gears then began spinning faster while air sounded as if it were being drawn into the back for a moment when 'ready' flashed in green letters across his sights. When he pulled the trigger, the gears locked to a stop, spinning in a blur the opposite way as the springs unwound, forcing a blast of wind forward that knocked Latimer off his feet and to the ground.

Something felt like it was coming, making Patricia and Vondra jump back just before the powerful block of air hit Zeno, tossing him back easily. Zeno violently pushed aside a tree that had fallen on him, sparks flashing from his broken face plate before focusing on Latimer as he got up.

"Damage taken. Assessment: cosmetic and nominal operating system damage. Target: Located. Action, eradicate!" Zeno said, stepping out from his pinned spot and raising his hands up once again when Shinsoo crashed into him, his steely claws tearing his left arm off in a spray of hydraulic fluid and sparks. Starling didn't waste any time while he was off balance, running in and firing rounds as fast as she could into the open 'wound', tearing wires and control cables with each bullet. Ashura spotted and opportunity as Zeno moved from getting hit with the bullets, bowing her head and holding her tri-spear behind her.

"Spirits of the ancient dragons, give me wisdom and strength to face mine enemies!" she called, her muscles swelling, multiplying her strength as she ran forward and stabbed her spear through Zeno's hip joint, partially tearing his leg off. Just as she was about to turn and swing the tip of her spear at him, she was blown back when Zeno slammed his remaining fist into the ground again, only to be taken by surprise when Vondra dug her daggers into his back in as though she were a twister of black power. In his momentary disorientation, Starling jumped across, hitting his shoulder with both shots from her pistols. He was just getting his footing again when Patricia wrenched him towards her in a whirl of dark gears and chains, meeting a whirlwind of dark power that Patricia was spinning in, knocking him into the ground. Just when Zeno came to a stop and was getting up, Latimer slammed his foot on his shoulder and shoved the end of his cross bow in his face.

"It ends here!" He growled, pulling the trigger as the winds that he had been charging blasted from the cylinder, blowing a hole into the ground and taking off Zeno's head, kicking Latimer into the air. For a moment his body twitched, but fell still soon after as Latimer landed, holding his shoulder hard and dropping his crossbow.

"You alright? What's the matter?" Vondra asked, sheathing her daggers when she stopped next to him.

"My shoulder doesn't feel right: that air cannon thing my cloak made has some mean kick." He said, grunting in pain until his entire shoulder dropped and made a loud popping sound, dropping him to the ground writhing in pain.

"I think his shoulder was dislocated: we need to send him back to a town right now to get help from a healer." Starling called, taking her scarf from around her neck and wrapping it around his shoulder.

"I'll take him." Shinsoo agreed as he landed once again in his calm state and extending a wing down to the ground; Ashura walked up to him and placed a hand on his muzzle.

"_Take care of him, and come back when you get a chance._" She thought to him as Shinsoo nodded, walking with them back to the portal before taking off for the little camp they had set up when the Dream Fragments were still in effect. Starling drew a pistol and fired at the rock formation around the portal, breaking it into hundreds of pieces and closing the portal behind them when her ear bud went off.

"Commander Starling… We just dispatched it… Yes sir, we're headed back now, E.T.A. 30 minutes… Yes sir, we're on our way. Guys we have another mission, this time to the Nihal Desert." Starling commanded as she shoved her pistol into its holster.

"Another Portal?" Vondra asked.

"What else?" Starling asked haughtily. Little known to them, two individuals watched them from a hill a few yards away, dressed in black cloaks. Both of them turned their heads up just enough so that the sunlight graced their chins; one of them an older man with a well trimmed grey beard, the other a shapely woman with elegant, dark red lips.

"So it's happening just as it did before." The woman said, as the man turned to her slightly.

"I wouldn't count on that. Remember that Oberon's future was altered once before." The man replied sharply.

"Must you be so impetuously pessimistic?" the woman asked before both of them disappeared in a plume of dark vapors. Patricia stopped, turning this way and that when she felt a small brush of power burst in the air, but shrugged it off as something that was just a random happening.

* * *

Yoshumari finally pulled the last of the levers on the Time Gate waiting for the door to open, noticing the few bright orange leaves on the ground from the World Maple Tree, wondering if maybe this tree was finally going through the same life cycle as any normal one would.

"_But this tree never did that; could something be seriously wrong?_" he wondered, stepping back as the door opened, allowing him through the door and into the Center of All Time, a dull place with smooth grey rocks everywhere.

"Nexus, are you here?" he called, his voice echoing through the halls for a moment when the sound of a beast getting to his feet and walking towards him echoed, despite his soft paws.

"I know of many who have come through this place, but I don't know you. Who are you that you call to me in such a familiar tone?" Nexus asked, his wise red eyes glowing in agitation when he met Yoshumari's gaze.

"I am one who seeks possible answers to something that is happening in the timeline of Ossyria." Yoshumari replied quickly, taking a defensive stance in showing his hands.

"You are the Seraphim Prince are you not?"

"I'm not sure at this point, but I need your help with something." Nexus eyed him for a moment, narrowing his eyes before sitting back on his haunches.

"I agree, however you inquiry requires a toll of my choosing." Yoshumari nodded, holding his wings and arms wide while Nexus looked him over for a moment, then reached out his paw.

"Your feelings for your past love Eleanor will suffice."

"What? No! Anything but my feelings for her!" Yoshumari protested.

"Yoshumari, believe me when I say that you are better off without _these_ feelings you harbor for her. It will only taint the image you held of her in your heart. Your memory will remain, but your feelings for her is what will be taken." Yoshumari closed his eyes tightly, finally nodding as Nexus curled his claws inward, pulling from him a soft velvet red cloud before clenching his paw shut. It took a moment for Yoshumari to suddenly become used to the emptiness within him, but pulled himself together and began.

"As I'm sure you are aware there are portals appearing all over Ossyria. What I am wondering is why the portals contain Time's Energy within them? Why would these portals need Time's Energy to keep them open? Does it have anything to do with the creatures within them?" Nexus thought for a moment, and then slowly nodded.

"As you assume, the creatures within the portals indeed are connected to the Time's Energy within the portals, but not in the way you think. Each of these portals corresponds to a certain time within the history of Ossyria when one of the major creatures were spawned or created."

"So, then why is it that the existence of these portals is allowing Arkarium to easily break through the seal Frued placed over the Black Mage's throne room? How are these portals and the seal connected?" Yoshumari asked, suddenly remembering that in this place a hundred years could pass and he wouldn't know the difference, so he better not waste time.

"The seal Frued placed in the Temple has twenty different layers, each one corresponding to different time periods of Ossyrian history, and only Frued would have known these times. These portals that Arkarium has created then correspond to the time one of the layers connects to and disrupts them making the seal easier to break; the creatures within the portals are its Guardians." Nexus answered calmly.

"But that doesn't explain why the creatures within the portals are stronger and only become more so." Yoshumari retorted, making Nexus think for a moment.

"The further back the portals reach in time, the stronger they become because the influence of the Black Mage is stronger in the past. The strongest of the beasts will no doubt be the hardest since they will be disrupting the Center Layer of the seal, very close to the actual sealing of The Mage where his influence is the strongest."

"So if we destroy the portals, we will destroy the creatures within them without having to fight them." Yoshumari said optimistically until Nexus shook his head.

"As long as the creature within them is alive, the portal with remain open since the Creature's life is the key-stone, so to speak, of the portal. You must destroy the creature in order to destroy the portal and rid the influence to the seal." Yoshumari hung his head low, shaking it in disappointment: he was hoping that there would be an easier way to defeat these creatures without having to fight them, but it was only going to get harder unless they could enlist the help of the others who had learned from The Six and the Masters.

"Can you take me to where Starling is going? I need to get this information to them as soon as possible." Nexus seemed to think for a moment, looking in the air around him, fixating on one portion of his cave.

"You do realize this counts as Time Travel and requires another toll." Yoshumari slumped his shoulders; Nexus had already taken his feelings for Eleanor as a Toll for information, he couldn't risk losing her memory.

"Then just send me back to the time portal, I'll make my way from there. At least tell me that 100 years haven't passed." Nexus smiled as he swung his paw mightily, tearing open a part of the air and shook his head.

"No… it has only been a few minutes." He chuckled as Yoshumari left as the tear repaired itself, folding his majestic paws and once again falling asleep when he thought he heard a familiar voice calling to him; he listened for a moment, but nothing came until he began to fall asleep again.

"Who goes there?" he asked, looking around and thinking hard about the voice that he was hearing when the memory struck him.

"Khaled! Khaled, I hear you!" he called, thundering through the caves until he felt that he was nearest to the sound, swiping his paw hard and tearing open another portal, from which a young man with a long, tattered coat tumbled through, being caught in Nexus paw.

"Khaled, what happened to you! You look like you've been to hell itself!" Nexus called, gently setting him down as he caught his breath.

"Nexus, I can't stay long; Arkarium's assaults are getting stronger and I'm not sure I can hold him off much longer. But I came to tell you that Mundus Arbor is in grave danger as is Ossryira. Someone _HAS_ to find his Transcendence Alice soon, otherwise all of Ossyria will soon be in ruin!"

"What about your Transcendence Rhinne? Can't she find her?" Nexus asked.

"Most of her powers have been sealed so that the Black Magic she was tainted with by Arkarium won't affect her. Without her power, she can't do much more than what she has been and fighting off Arkarium is the best I can do." Nexus nodded, tearing open a portal once more to allow Khaled through once again.

"Very well, I will find a way of getting the message to someone." He agreed, sending the black haired youth through the portal once again, gritting his teeth hard enough that they creaked.

"_Corus! What have you done?_"

* * *

Even with Phantom's heart still healing from his final loss of Aria, he threw himself into training as hard as he could, convincing Dureau to be his sparring partner, saying that it would strengthen both of them. Luminous felt that the house he and Lania had grown up in was no longer safe since the Black Wings had found it and attacked her: even after he had brought her back to Serenity to be looked over by Beuwon, he couldn't find anything wrong with her. But he still wasn't convinced that she was safe from harm, and so brought her to Edelstein where he was assured that the High Guard would be able to better protect her. While the heroes and Dureau happened to be resting, Belle came walking up to them with a message she had received from Ludibrum concerning a small town at the foot of Helios Tower.

"From what the message seems to say… forgive me it's written in an older language that I never learned very well in school." Belle said, turning the page this way and that until Dureau stood, pulling the paper out of her hands and looking it over, quickly reading the note that had been written in black soot ink on stiff parchment.

"This says that there is a nine tailed fox on in the forests of their town who has returned to his old ways and stolen the soul of one of the inhabitance there. They are requesting help from anyone who will answer." Dureau said flatly, handing the parchment off to Mercedes and crossing his arms.

"You can read that?" Belle asked with astonishment. Dureau only looked at her coldly making her skin break out in goose flesh.

"We are all from an ancient time if you remember Belle." Mercedes explained, looking up from the note for a moment and smiling at her.

"Alright, we'll go. Phantom, we're going to need the use of your ship again." She commanded, at which Phantom only nodded: his demeanor had changed so much in finally saying goodbye to Aria. No longer was he the grinning over confident master thief she had known all those years ago, now he was just a plastered wall of faked brashness and forced smiles.

"This has nothing to do with Clytemnestra; I will be waiting here." Dureau said flatly when Luminous turned to him over his shoulder.

"You'd be gaining strength from this." He smiled darkly.

"Helping weak humans is not my idea of gaining strength." Dureau shot back when Mastema jumped up onto his shoulder, brushing against the side of his head slightly.

"Come on master Dureau, you might even be able to find out some information about Clytemnestra."

"Unless it has anything to do with Clytemnestra directly, I could care less." Dureau responded back, leaning carelessly against a table and crossing his legs.

"Fine then, unless you don't want to stay here in the garage anymore, you will go and help them out." Belle commanded.

"I will not be commanded in such a way human. Do you even know who I am?" He asked, standing to his full height, a full foot above Belle.

"I know exactly who you are Dureau, but if you are assuming that you can use your position as a General or as Prince of Khyune, you are wrong since you denounced both of those positions." Gritting his teeth he raised his hands in rage, ready to wrap them around this human's scrawny little neck when he felt Mastema's fur brush against his cheek, making him growl in frustration before shaking his head and turning to walk out of the garage.

"Let's go." He grunted, following Phantom to where the Lumiere was docked, standing on the bow as they left, fuming silently as Mastema sat quietly at his feet. Phantom took the helm, telling Renault that he would be taking over navigation for a few days: Mercedes could only assume it was because it reminded him of the days when he was still a prized bounty thief who used his charm and gifts to win over the heart of Aria.

"How are you holding up?" Mercedes asked gently standing next to Phantom as he guided the ship through the skies, checking the compass every now and again for their heading since they were flying through a cloud bank at the time.

"I don't know; between searching for Suu and seeing Aria disappear for good, my life, my existence has somehow become, empty. Perhaps what I need is a good raiding bout, those always got me excited: Christianne!" He called, but his command was cut short when Mercedes grabbed the communicator out of his hand and put it back on its hanger.

"Perhaps a glass of wine then to liven the mood." He smiled, turning to a cabinet and pulling out a dusty bottle of the dark liquid, baring a name that Mercedes would never be able to pronounce and poured it into a couple slender glasses, handing one to her before tapping the edge of his glass against hers.

"To absent hearts." He said softly, taking a sip before returning to the helm, adjusting the direction slightly. With a distant sigh he set the glass down on the consol, setting his arms on the top of the wheel then rested his forehead on them, staring at the floor.

"What am I doing here?" he asked, closing his eyes and sighing. Mercedes pursed her eyebrows and set her glass down before walking over to him and setting her hand on his elbow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what am I doing _here_? The only reason I had joined you four when you went to the Temple was to avenge Aria and protect the world that she loved. The idea of protecting the world still exists but without Aria, without her memory, her presence, the task seems empty and useless." Mercedes felt a loss for words: while she had already dealt with the fact that she was willing to end Orchid's life, she still had her people to fight for.

"Phantom, you presence isn't useless. The world that Aria wanted to protect still exists; we all were given the charge of protecting Ossyria and that mission is not yet complete."

"But why would _I_ be protecting Ossyria? After I had made the commitment to give up thieving and be with her, I wanted to protect her. After she was killed, I wanted to protect the only other thing that she loved as memory of her while searching for the one that had killed her. Now I have, and Aria was the one to protect _me,_ and now she can finally rest in peace. With her gone forever, Ossyria has become a darker place, like the Forest of the Dead." Mercedes firmly but gently pulled him to a standing position and turned him to her.

"Then protect those who will be; don't let the world Aria loved die with her. Don't let it die without finding what makes Ossyria shine; don't let those who care about you, die with Ossyria." Mercedes answered. For a long while, Phantom just stared at her making Mercedes feel as though he were searching through her soul with those knife-like blue eyes as his familiar boyish grin began to turn up on his lips. Both of them started to slightly lean towards each other when a knock on the door, stopping them both.

"Yes, come in." Phantom said, putting his hands behind him and turning to the door, seeing that it was Luminous who noticed the odd atmosphere in the room.

"I just spotted the town on the starboard bow; are you two alright?" he asked.

"Never better Luminous. I'll bring the ship down, and we'll see what we can do about this Nine-tails problem." Phantom stated, turning to the helm and pulling down a lever while pushing on the helm to begin their descent. Mercedes swallowed hard and quickly left the room, trying to get her mind to focus on the mission they had been assigned. But all the same: what was Phantom going to do really? Was he really going to kiss her? Embrace her? Or was he simply going to whisper something to her?

All in all she pushed it to the back of her mind as they descended into town where they were greeted by a number of people, all of which speaking with nervous speed and pushing gifts onto them, begging for protection for their family, for their friends, for themselves. Their pressing in became too much for Dureau as he took his mace and slammed the top of it into the ground hard, the resulting pressure wave pushing everyone away making them all look to him in fear and confusion.

"Dureau! We aren't here to frighten them further!" Mercedes scolded as Dureau picked up his mace and hooked it onto his belt with a cold stare in his eyes.

"People, please forgive my friend here; he isn't exactly used to people swarming all around him. Now, we came in response to a request for help; something along the lines that someone has had their soul taken?" Phantom asked, standing before them while setting both hands on his cane.

"That would be my brother!" a man called from furthest back in the crowd. Luminous teleported to him, put a hand under his arm and teleported back to the front where Phantom could ask more in detail about the incident without having to shout at the man.

"I see; you must be worried about him then. What is your name young man?" Phantom asked, holding out his hand in the greeting to him.

"My name is Chil Sung, and yes I am very worried about my twin brother. The only reason that any of us found him was because I knew where he was going to gather herbs and how long it usually takes him." Phantom nodded in understanding when Luminous began with his own question.

"What makes you so sure that it was a Nine Tailed fox? And what makes you so sure that his soul was stolen?" Chil Sung motioned for them to follow, leading them to his humble home where his wife and sister-in-law hovered over his brother on a cot. Mercedes looked him over while Mastema jumped from Dureau's shoulder and sniffed at the man's hand, but he remained unresponsive.

"The only thing that I know of to make a person so unresponsive is shock. But my brother is never scared that badly. That can be the only other reason for his actions."

"I don't think it was his soul that was taken, but this man is very close to death." Mastema whispered to Dureau after jumping back onto his shoulder.

"Then I will ask again, what makes you so sure that it was a Nine Tailed fox that has done this?" Luminous asked once again, as Chil Sung walked over to a book shelf and pulled from it a scroll that once unrolled revealed a hauntingly beautiful picture of a white fox-like creature sporting red markings on the fur around its eyes and forehead.

"This is the Nine Tailed fox, Akhul. He has been living in the mountains for centuries, claiming to those that met him and lived that he was gathering human souls in order to transform himself into a human. His sins against this town may have been great, however when 'The Guardians' were training to bring down the Black Mage, he claimed to have renounced his ways, giving up on trying to become a human and offered his services instead to help them. But as everyone here suspected, his claim to accept that he would no longer try to become a human became naught when he stole my brother's soul." Chil Sung explained while Phantom looked over the picture, trying to read the words painted into the top corner of the page, but having no luck.

"I see; how do we find this fox?" Phantom asked; Chil Sung became silent, reaching up and scratching the back of his head with uncertainty on his face.

"I personally have no idea. The only thing that anyone knows of him is that he lives in the mountains." Phantom nodded, knowing that their journey had just become that much longer to find something that lived 'in the mountains'.

"Perhaps I can shed some light on your predicament." And old man called, slowly walking into the center of the circle that had gathered around them.

"I am Chumji, headman of this small village. To the south west of this village is Black Mountain; at the summit of that mountain you will find an abandoned village where the three Goblin Kings have taken up residence. They should be able to tell you where to find Akhul."

"That is indeed most helpful Master Chumji, thank you." Mercedes responded and was just about to leave when Chumji called after her.

"Wait, if you are going to ask them about where to find Akhul, you will need gifts to bring them. Otherwise they will never simply _give_ you the information that you seek." He said sternly, pulling from his sleeves a leaf wrapped around a thick brown paste, a skin containing freshly made rice wine, and another leaf with barbecued pork.

"Give the pork to the King of Yellow; the paste will go to the King of Green, and the rice wine to the King of Blue. Each of these kings cannot resist these common foods of us humans. Use them to your advantage to get the information that you seek." Chumji instructed, giving one item to each of the Heroes before wishing them luck on their journey. Dureau hung back from the others, silently taking in the view that was around them while walking towards the one mountain that looked as though it loomed over the entirety of the village below; the scenery reminded him of the last time that he had moved his family into the Minar Forest for protection.

"Thinking of old times?" Mastema asked as she watched Dureau's face smile ever so slightly while he looked around. Dureau gave no answer, simply looking as memories of playing a game called tag with his young human brother and his friends, or watching out for him when the two of them would wander into the woods to explore.

"Master?" Are you…"

"It's nothing Mastema." Dureau replied shortly, casually wiping the corner of his eye, but Mastema could tell that he was wiping away a tear.

"Master, I know what it's like to miss one's family." Mastema spoke low, only so that Dureau would hear her, however her comment seemed to upset him more than it did comfort him.

"You will never know the pain of _losing_ your family." He replied sharply, making Mastema shrink back slightly.

"Many pardons master; but I want you to know that I am here to listen to your every thought." For a few precious moments, Mastema was able to take on her human form, walking around to the front of him so that she stood in his full view. His eyes looked so full of pain, just like they were on the day that the Heroes had come to the Temple of Time. Even though so much time had passed, were his wounds still so fresh? Of course they would be, to a demon such as they a mere 20 years was nothing, no more than a small stepping stone.

However the demons of Khyune were never exposed to the countless and conflicting emotions of the humans and Dureau had been raised among them, so she could only guess that his demon pride and his human influence were a constant clash of frustration and fervor. Mastema was about to say something when Dureau suddenly put his arms around her, pulling her close and holding her tightly while struggling to hold back his emotions, letting small breaths through his clenched teeth.

"At night I can hear them." Dureau finally said, pulling his arms tighter around Mastema's body, but careful to avoid squeezing her to death which was easy to do, even in his weakened state. A lump began forming in Mastema's throat; had master Dureau really been carrying around this burden so long?

"I can hear them, begging for me to come and save them. But I can do nothing as I watch them burn to death." Dureau softly sobbed. Mastema finally let out the breath that she had been holding, putting her arms around him until a sound made Mastema open her eyes and turn to see Mercedes standing at the corner of their path.

"I hate to break this moment, but we really need to move." Mercedes urged. Reluctantly, Mastema pulled away from Dureau who made some of his long ruby hair fall over his eyes to hide the tears in them, while quickly walking on ahead. Mastema walked after them, but not long after returning to her cat form, disappointedly trotting alongside Dureau as they made their way to the village.

A strange fog hung all around them, making the already nerve thinning ambiance even more so as strange creaking noises and rustling grasses filled the air. Mercedes was the first to reach for one of her gun's holding it out and ready as she tried to listen all around her for what might be coming. Phantom quickly pulled out the deck of cards on his belt while the crystals on the end of Luminous' staff shone through the thick fog as a multi colored orb. No sooner had they all stopped their forward advance than footsteps could be heard closing in around them, seeming to be coming from everywhere.

The three heroes backed up to each other, watching for any movement when a loud tearing sound burst into existence, followed by the sound of stiff hits and then repeated two more times in the same pattern. When the last hit had made its mark, the fog suddenly lifted and revealed Dureau standing over a tubby green creature with a large, fierce looking mask. The other two creatures seemed to be the same, except they were blue and yellow each rubbing their heads where no doubt Dureau had smacked them with his mace.

"Ow! Why did you have to hit me so hard?!" The yellow one asked in as funny sounding whiny voice, rubbing his temple.

"Yeah, whyz you gotta be hittin' on us you bully?" asked the blue one in the same kind of voice only lower.

"How am I supposed to know if you are hostile or not when you are the one's coming at us as though you want to destroy us?" Dureau asked aggressively.

"We didn't means no hahm whit it, honest. We just wanted to have some fun by scarin youz." The green one replied. He too had the same kind of voice, only it was higher than the yellow.

"Then give me the answer to what I am going to ask before I decide to send you…"

"That's enough demon slayer!" Mercedes reprimanded, receiving a cold hard stare from him before relaxing slightly

"What he is trying to ask is if you would know anything about Akhul, the Nine Tailed Fox?" Mercedes continued, still keeping her eye on Dureau in case he decided to attack. The three creatures looked at each other for a moment before nodding and all standing in a line.

"We'd be happy to tellz you anyting." The yellow one answered.

"But foist, you gotta do somtin for us." The Green one continued.

"Youz gotta bring me some tasty treatz, Rice wine. My bruder Yellow over dare wants some barbecued pork, and blue here wants dis stuff he callz bucky jam." Green finished, each of the goblins bouncing on their heels and crossing their arms like children refusing to do their chores.

"Oh, you mean things like this?" Phantom asked, producing from behind him the Buckwheat paste while Mercedes and Luminous pulled from behind them the treats they had brought with them. Instantly the goblin's mouths began to salivate, reaching for the treats when Phantom smacked each of their hands with his cane and pulled them away.

"You can have these treats when you tell us what you know, if anything, about Akhul." The three of them looked to be having a mental battle with themselves, not wanting to give the information up, but wanting the human goodies more than holding back something. Green was the first to crack.

"Ok ok ok… Akhul appears around da area most of deh humans here know as Fox Ridge. It's just near da bottom of Black Mountain here and is inhabited mostly by his subordinates the Samiho can I PPLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEE have dat rice wine?" Mercedes smiled with a laugh at his child-like nature, holding out the wine skin to him which he snatched away and ran off, giggling to himself as he began drinking down the liquid.

"Now, who's going to be the next to tell us anything? Sure, telling us _where_ Akhul is helps, but this is a Nine Tails Fox we're dealing with." Phantom encouraged. Both Yellow and Green could be heard licking their lips, swallowing the puddles of spit forming in their mouths looking at the human treats they had when Yellow could no longer stand it and held out his hand, blurting out all he knew.

"Akhul will often take the form of a beautiful woman lost at the bottom of the mountain. She was his first soul to take, and has used it to his great advantage by asking unsuspecting travelers for help." He said desperately, greedily taking the pork from Luminous and devouring it from the skewers it had been cooked on. Phantom then turned back to Blue, waving the paste before his nose, making him lick his lips as he took a deep whiff, finally reaching for the paste but missing as Phantom pulled it away.

"Information first, and then you get the tasty treat." He scolded. Blue stamped his foot, but caved after a few short moments.

"Alright alright…. There is a wayz dat you can get the soul back from him." Blue spat, reaching for the paste again only to have it pulled away.

"Oh please, can't I have just a little tastez?"

"Information first you overgrown blueberry." Phantom sneered. Blue growled under his mask, but the desire for that wondrous paste surpassed his pride.

"Da only way to get a soul back is to rub deh person's nose wit one of hiz tails. It can't be fluff of hiz tail, it has to be the entire tail. And thatz all I knowz so can I PLLLLEEEEEAAAAASSSE have that jelly?" Phantom nodded and handed the past to Blue, knowing that even if he were to hold the paste back longer, he wouldn't get anything else out of him.

"Let's go. I thought I saw a bunch of fox prints at the foot of the mountain so that should be the 'Fox Ridge' we were told about." Luminous said. Dureau huffed slightly as he turned around and began walking down the mountain once more, irritated that they had to come all the way _up_ the mountain, just to find out they needed to be all the way _down_ the mountain.

"Excuse me, can someone help me over here?" a voice asked, making everyone reach for their weapons and face a young looking woman. Phantom held up his hand to the others as if to say 'stand down' and began to approach her when Mercedes grabbed his arm.

"This could a trap set by Akhul." Whe warned. Phantom only turned to her and smiled.

"If it is, then we'll deal with it. Yes, young lady we'd be happy to help you, what is it that you need?"

"Well, I was searching for herbs but the basket I had filled is too heavy for me to carry back to town."

"I'll do it." Mercedes huffed, walking through the bushes behind the woman, looking for the basket mentioned. Luminous and Dureau watched the woman closely; something about her being all the way out here didn't seem right until Luminous watched her cheeks pull back unnaturally.

"Phantom! Mercedes! Get away from her! She's…" but before Luminous could finish his sentence, the woman lunged at Phantom, teeth now sharp and hands deformed into something hideous, giving him only enough time to draw his cane sword and swing it through the front of her neck as he side stepped her attack and watched her fall to the ground. Mercedes soon came from the bushes with her guns drawn, looking down at the poor woman when a sultry male voice began to laugh.

"Well, it's been some time since I encountered someone with such perception." It said as a large white fox stepped from the hedges, holding a paw over the woman's body as it became a cloud of something and disappeared into the fox's body.

"I assume you're Akhul?" Luminous asked as the end of his staff became bright with burning mana.

"That I am. How lucky for me that just by taking one person, I was able to have five come to me wrapped in a bow and ready for harvest." the fox answered smoothly, each of its tails waving hypnotically in the air and the light in his eyes looking to shift shades as he stared at them.

"From what we've been told, you renounced your ways as a soul stealing entity and resolved yourself to helping the Guardians in defeating the Black Mage. Why have you gone back to your old ways?" Mercedes asked. Akhul chuckled, his grin revealing his sharpened white teeth in an unsettling way.

"Power is everything. Without it, you cannot be what you truly wish to be. I have lived for centuries, and my wish to become a human is no more diluted than it was when I first sprouted my other six tails. There are those that say it is impossible, but I will prove them all wrong; all I need is a few more human souls and I can transform myself into a human."

"This ends here Akhul. You were never meant to be a human." Phantom responded cuttingly, which only made Akhul angry.

"SILENCE HUMAN! What would you know of my reasons for wanting to become human?"

"Being human is not all it's cracked up to be." Dureau responded, reaching for his mace and holding it parallel to the ground while his Agies surrounded his arm and weapon, when he charged in a burst of light making Akhul fly through the air. Phantom took advantage of the situation by leaping through the air, drawing a card and flinging it forward catching Akhul in a blast of cards, some of which cutting through his skin beneath his soft fur. Mercedes ran forward, holding her guns at full arm's length, firing off arrows as fast as she could, winds curling around her guns and ferns glowing on her arms and legs as she ran, slicing through Akhul's fur and grazing some of his skin.

"What is it that you want from me?" Akhul asked as he pushed off the ground and through his pain.

"Return Chil Sung's brother's soul to him." Mercedes demanded. Akhul clenched his jaw tight and picked his tails up while the tips glowed in an alluring light.

"Never! You'll have to kill me in order to take it back!"

"Then so be it!" Luminous sneered, lowering his stance and placing one hand on the ground while holding his staff behind him glowing with a bright white light, hitting Akhul hard enough that he went spiraling towards Dureau who stood waiting with his mace ready to attack. Instead he was met with a swift and stiff hit of Akhul's claws cutting through his arm, misting his blood on the ground. Light gathered around the tips of his tails again as Phantom and Mercedes closed in to attack only to be swept aside by one of his tails.

Mastema leapt from Dureau's shoulder, landing on Akhul's back and dug her claws in, digging at his flesh and scratching at anything she could reach until she and Akhul were sent flying back when Luminous swept down his Sylvan Lance. Mastema jumped off his body, skidding to a stop before lunging after him again and digging her claws into his flesh once more. The others could only circle Akhul waiting for an opening since they couldn't touch him while Mastema was still clinging to him. Finally, Akhul reached up with his forepaws, grabbed Mastema and tore her from his fur, hurling her into Phantom.

Mercedes rushed forwards but was met with Akhul turning to her with a hard stare and a light in his eyes, making her spirit orbs suddenly go dark and her guns feel heavy. She tried firing, but no matter what she did, her arrows would not come to life nor were any of her abilities being initiated. Akhul lowered himself to the ground to avoid the hissing Sylvan Lance of Luminous, only to stare at him hard with the same gaze, instantly cutting off the use of his abilities no matter how hard he tried. Sweeping his tails, he pushed both Mercedes and Luminous onto a rock while the tips of his tails began to drill into their chests.

"Mercedes!" Phantom called, charging to them with a burst of blue streaks and feathers, but was thrown to the ground as well having a tail driven into his chest.

"It's been some time since I've had such fine souls brought to my very threshold. I will add you to my collection and you can revel in knowing that you helped me become human!" Akhul sneered as the three he had pinned down squirmed and struggled in pain, his tails drilling deeper into their chests.

"No, you won't!" Dureau growled, driving his wings down hard as his right hand grew into a mass of ragged aura and sharp claws. But he too was stopped short when Akhul held up another of his tails, hitting Dureau square in the chest and stopping him in mid stride.

"What you didn't know is that while I am taking a soul, my power grows three fold. With these three, I have more than enough power to stop a pathetic demon!" Akhul grinned as Dureau fought to pull the tail from his chest without any success, slammed to the ground hard enough that the rocks he hit cracked.

"You four are pathetic, thinking that you could defeat me! The Great nine tailed fox Akhul!" he growled. Light began shining from his forehead, making the four of them arch their backs in pain while threads of mana lightning crawled from their chests up his tails. Moments passed like eons as a hazy image of their bodies began to rise from them, being pulled along the sweep of Akhul's tails. Luminous fought with all he had, resisting Akhul's pull but knew that if something wasn't done soon, his soul would be torn from his body.

Just as his feet were about to let loose of their hold in his body, something rang through the air as it swung, cutting through Akhul's tail and throwing Luminous back together, heaving and coughing in aching pain. Three more times the same scraping ring cut through the other three tails, leaving them to cough and curl to stay the pain no doubt pulsing through their bodies.

"Which one of you did this?!" Akhul roared, pulling his tails back looking at the clean cuts, healing over the skin to stop the bleeding.

"I did!" a voice shouted. Akhul turned, finding an ashen skinned woman standing behind his prey with a large straight sword. Her burning yellow eyes glowed fiercely against the moon light and the ears atop her head were laid completely back, baring her fangs and hissing in her throat.

"Don't you dare hurt Master Dureau or anyone else again!" She shouted, charging forward with her sword in tow. Akhul shot one of his tails forward, but missed when Mastema side stepped the attack with a beat of her small wings. Akhul swung another of his tails, only to be blocked when it slammed into Mastema's sword pushing her back a few feet. Again Mastema charged, parrying another blow from Akhul as her own sword glowed with a faint light, hitting Akhul hard enough that he slid back, digging his claws into the ground to stop but met with another hard swing slicing through his shoulder.

Biting down on the sword when she swung again, he tossed her to the side, lunging after her and pinning her down only held back by Mastema when she held up her sword, keeping him from landing on her as he snapped and barked in her face. In their struggle though, Mastema didn't see Akhul raise one of his tails behind him until he reared back and drove the tail down hard leaving her no time to react.

"MASTEMA!" Dureau shouted and he struggled to move, watching as the Akhul's tail plunged into her chest with a solid thump. Gritting his teeth, he forced his body to move, clenching his fists to fight through his body's pain.

"_I've lost people I cared for once, but I won't let it happen again. NEVER AGAIN!" _his mind thundered, giving him the will to move pick up his heavy mace and rocket to Akhul in a burst of Agies, pushing the fox away and pulling his tail from her chest. Mastema arched her back in both pain and relief, inhaling deeply before doubling over clutching her chest, coughing up a small bit of blood.

"Mastema, are you alright?" Dureau asked, kneeling down to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. When Mastema looked back in his eyes, she could see the anxiety in his ruby eyes, even if the only time they ever seemed to change were when he was enraged. She nodded, feeling Dureau squeeze her shoulder as he stood again, his mace becoming engulfed in flaming Agies swirls, while bright green Khyune letters stood out on his wings, holding up his left hand that became engulfed with ragged dark red energy in the shape of a huge clawed hand.

Akhul pulled himself to his feet once again after being hit, baring his fangs before the both of them slammed into each other in a thunderous crash; Akhul stabbing forward with his tails while Dureau held him back with the shield of his Agies.

"What would a demon know of love?" Akhul asked in his growl, suddenly finding himself thrown back and then having his stomach sear with pain when Dureau dragged his left hand across his gut, tearing through the tender flesh.

"You know nothing." Dureau growled in return, tilting his wings slightly as he went to turn around and hit Akhul with his mace in a burst of dark yellow energy, shattering his right fore-shoulder. Akhul wasn't allowed to fly far as he was caught in a vacuum and dragged back to Dureau where he was hit again with another powerful blow making a loud crunch echo through the valley. With a stiff kick, Akhul was sent into the air only to be met by Dureau again in a burst of Agies and sent careening back to the ground as the Agies took the form of a dragon's head and clamped its jaws around the fox's body and drove him to the ground before dissipating. When Akhul opened his eyes, he could see Dureau hovering in mid air, gliding on the currents of wind that swirled around the valley; Dureau pulled back his mace as dark red Agies reached up his arm to his mace with a metallic clap forming a large scythe.

"This is the end for you!" he growled, turning his head down and tucking in his wings to gain speed, not giving Akhul time to react.

"I was so close, so very close to beco…" Akhul was silenced when Dureau swung hard, the blade of the Scythe passing through the fox's neck with a whisper, separating it from his shoulders. The finishing stance Dureau had landed with put a single drop of blood on a rock behind him from the tip of the scythe. His hair slowly fell into place around his head, and the winds that had been kicked up as a result of battle faded into nothing as the scythe dissipated into the wind. Mastema pulled her shaky feet under her, walking over to where Dureau stood over Akhul's body as he fell to his knees, bringing her with him.

"Dureau, I… Thank you." Mastema murmured putting her arms around his head and letting him rest against her chest. Dureau growled in his throat, but said nothing as the other three walked over to the body, Luminous pulling off one of the tails and throwing it over his shoulder before looking at the tail then pulling the other eight from Akhul's body, giving some to Phantom and Mercedes.

"We still have a mission to finish." He commanded. Dureau willed his body to stand, pulling Mastema to her feet beside him as all five of them stumbled and limped back to the town. All of the villagers stood in anticipation as Luminous drug the entire length of the tail across Chil Nam's nose, small sparkles of light seeping into his face as he did. Nothing happened for the next few moments that passed making them all think that they had failed when Chil Nam sat up and sneezed so hard that he reached up and rubbed his throat.

"Oh my, I've never sneezed that… I'm back! I'M BACK!" he called, making all of those that were closest to him cheer and move in to see that he was indeed alright. Quietly, Luminous left the hubbub, leading the others to a quieter part of the village and set all the tails side-by-side before kneeling to the ground and setting down his staff. Folding the fingers of one hand over the fist of the other, Luminous then closed his eyes and whispered a few words as the tails glowed with a soft white light before orbs of light began to emanate from them and diffuse into the wind.

"What are these?" Mercedes asked, holding her hand out as one of the smaller orbs landed in her palm.

"They are the Life Forces of the people that Akhul took." a pleasant woman's voice answered making them all look up to see an elegant woman standing before them, the same woman that had been used the lure them to Akhul.

"Thank you for setting us free. People say that he was stealing souls, but in reality, he would drain so much of a person's life force that whatever remained would soon burn out and the person would die within a few days. Again, thank you." The woman said, dispelling into the breeze along with the other orbs of light.

"I didn't know you were a priest." Phantom laughed, but was soon silenced when Luminous turned to him.

"It's a Life Force releasing spell taught to all of us when I was at the Order of Light, a special spell that we are only to use when something like this has happened. I could sense them through the first tail that I picked up, and figured out that Akhul had been storing his power in his tails, and not his body." Just as they returned from their duty, they were swarmed by people once again, asking for protection from the cursed Nine Tails until Phantom told them that Akhul was dead, relieving them all and launching the town into a celebration. The five of them were urged to stay, but they declined and returned to the Lumiere where Phantom turned control over to Renault once again since he felt too tired to pilot it and slumped down in the nearest couch he could find.

"How are you doing?" Mercedes asked as she came and sat on the same couch.

"I've felt better, but at least we're alive, thanks to Mastema." Phantom replied, picking his head up and looking over to Dureau who had slumped into another couch with Mastema in her cat form once again curled up asleep on his torso.

"Mercedes, about what happened in the control room…" his sentence was cut off when he felt something lean against him, seeing that Mercedes had fallen asleep, leaning on him. Phantom only chuckled to himself and put back his head, soon falling asleep himself. The direct attack on their life forces made them all feel sleepy, but Luminous fought it off as hard as he could until he too collapsed on the floor and fell asleep while the ship headed back for Edelstein per Phantom's orders.

Checky had set the SG-88 in the outer part of the Ellinia forest, leaving it in stand-by while the they snuck into town; everywhere they looked was surrounded by mutated creatures from Ereve as well as Henesys, warped by the black magic seeping from Ereve and making the seven of them slightly nauseous. The each snuck around buildings, trying to avoid unneeded confrontations until they stood just a few dozen feet from the main entrance to the Ereve castle.

"Alright, this is it. You guys ready?" Checky whispered looking around to the others as they stood waiting in anticipation with weapons drawn and abilities activated in flashes of Mana or Crystal power. With a nod they all began running in when a large clawed hand slammed down in front of them, reeking of rotten flesh making them all jump back to avoid be hit by the hand or flying rocks.

"You won't be going anywhere near the castle." A chorus of voices said, making them all look up to see Skeleth standing over them, two of his head's necks glowing as flames built in their throats and then burst out in a searing wall. Helen had just enough time to throw her arms forward and take control of them and push them to the side, but it took every last bit of her strength due to the physical force. Matthew unsheathed his Pyrope Rhoen, swinging hard enough to make a shockwave rip through the air slamming into Skeleth's chest, only making him stop the flame assault. Jack's body became a flare of red energy, shooting forward with invisible speed before slamming his fists hard enough into Skeleth's chest that it sounded like thunder, kicking up dust all around them.

Checky climbed the outer wall with Olsen and Jenny, clenching his hand in the Hex Cannon thundering off huge rounds, the kick jerking the mech with each shot. To let the barrels cool for a moment, he reached into the chest cavity of his mech, pulling out a small grenade, pressing the button on top and hurling it at Skeleth where its small legs dug into his flesh and detonated. Jenny held her bow parallel to the ground as howling green winds surrounded her tribal light bow, while Olsen moved his hands quickly through a few seals before pulling a shuriken into his hand, instantly making it grow in size as hot pink light engulfed like flames. The moment Jack was clear, Jenny and Olsen released their projectiles each making the air ripple as they went, slamming into Skeleth hard enough to knock him to the ground allowing Checky to jump high into the air and slam his left fist into one of his heads, breaking the jaw.

Skeleth reached over with another of his heads, clamping down on the mech and hurling it into the outer wall before blasting him with an explosion of flames that burned the paint off the metal. Helen held her staff as far back as she could reach, Mana and Crystal power flooding from it, freezing the air around her into enormous sharp icicles before propelling them forward in a flurry ice crystals. However they were soon reduced to steam as Skeleth's heads turned and belched another wall of flames at them before swinging his tail through the searing cloud at her, only able to teleport away. Matthew was still in the oncoming path but dug his sword into the ground, crossing his arms making mana surge from his legs into the ground bringing up a wall of rock that was shattered into dust sending Matthew flying.

Lillianne jumped as high as she could off the wall with assistance from her battle step, making a mass of ice crackle into existence, bringing Matthew back down to the ground running with Olsen and Jack while drawing the glory sword. Helen tried for another spell, this time summoning a throng of flaming gears that closed in around Skeleth, beginning to tear at his flesh. Jenny aimed for the sky, unleashing a huge Spine Arrow that burst into a thick cloud of arrows raining down on Skeleth as she changed positions riding atop Alden. Lillianne ran for a little while beside the guys before surging ahead, swinging hard as she let loose a beam of light, slicing through one of his legs.

But just as the guys were about to begin an assault, Checky rushed in and began firing rounds at the hydra in a hail of deafening drones and jets of flame leaping from the guns in his arms since the Hex Cannon had been damaged. With the last of the bullets he had at his disposal, he hunkered down in Siege mode, firing everything that he had. In one sweeping motion, Matthew drew his Glory Sword and unleashed a humming red solar scythe, Olsen threw two massive shuriken and Jack cocked the hammer back on his humming pistol, pulling the trigger while streaks of Ruby power and mana swirled around the end of the barrel and erupted and a thunderous blast. All three attacks hit squarely where Chekcy had been firing, but when Checky finally ran out of bullets and began changing belts, Skeleth swung his heads and cleared the smoke.

"You think that those pathetic attacks will work on me now?" he asked with a laughing growl.

"They did once, and they'll work again!" Matthew shouted, spying the Rohen and charging for it in a flash of light, then charging at him again, swinging hard through his chest where the scar was still visible. However when he landed, instead of hearing his flesh separate the Rohen hummed and rang as though it had bounced off his scales.

"_What the…"_

"I told you that your attacks won't work on me. I have been reborn as a Chaos Beast!" He laughed, revealing his chest to be completely unscathed. Checky grit his teeth, readying his guns again and opened fire only to watch in frustration as each bullet ricochet off his scales. Jack and Lillianne rushed forward, Lillianne hurled into the air by Jack as he rushed forward, dragging his knucklers through the ground and striking Skeleth in the chest, lifting him off the ground enough for him to hurl a grenade under him as well as Jenny's Bomb Arrow, and then be driven back to the ground by Lillianne's Judgment Axe and held there until the explosives had gone off. Helen's eyes glowed furiously as she began reciting the Genesis Light spell, her most powerful of Sacred spells, focusing every beam onto where Skeleth had been and hitting him with a ground shaking explosion.

"Didst we vanquish him?" Helen asked as the others came to where she stood behind the outer wall, jumping back when Skeleth roared so loud that the cloud of dust and smoke around him was blown away.

"Checky, I'm sorry, but there is no way that we are going to defeat him, we need to pull back and find a way to become more powerful ourselves! I don't think even the SG-88 has what it takes to defeat him!" Matthew commanded.

"No! We aren't leaving without her!" Checky screamed over his outer com, stepping out from his cover and firing both guns on his arms at Skeleth while the barrels slowly turned bright orange. Matthew growled in frustration, bolting out from his cover and charging for Skeleth to unleash a powerful shockwave, but that only dispelled around his hard scales. Jack and Olsen landed hard, skidding backwards until they were standing near where Jenny had taken up a cover.

"It's no use! I can't get through his scales!" Jack called, ducking to the right while Olsen grabbed Jenny and fitted away as his hand came crashing down where they stood a moment before. Helen summoned all the power she could stand, channeling it all into a concentrated beam of her Genesis Light. Unfortunately all the blast did was make Skeleth become even more enraged, launching a sweltering wall of flames at her, deflected momentarily by Lillianne's wall of ice while Helen teleported them both away to a safe distance.

"There has to be a way of hurting him!" Lillianne shouted.

"Thou art correct Lillianne, however such a way is something we possess not. We then must retreat until our power hath been increased." Lillianne nodded, allowing herself to be teleported to the others: they had been fighting for nearly an hour and all they seemed to be doing was making him madder.

"Checky, we have to go now!"

"You can go! But I'm staying until I walk out that gate with Claudine in my arms!" He shouted, running out from his cover, leaping high into the air with the help of his boosters, forming his hands into a the large jet powered sledgehammer when one of Skeleth's heads turned to him. When it opened its jaw, an orb of something appeared to be growing on his tongue. Jenny looked up when she felt the itch of thick power, seeing Checky headed for the open mouth and knew that there was no way he would survive. She drew an arrow and forced every last ounce of mana she had as well as a huge portion of Emerald Crystal power into her bow, making the winds gather and howl around the arrow as she launched it, only to be dispelled in the light the energy released. Checky screamed as loud as he could when the power Skeleth had gathered burst from his mouth and enveloped the mech, obliterating it as though it were a paper doll. For a long while, Skeleth looked around not seeing any of his attackers making all of his heads smile as he turned and walked back into the castle.

"Thou makest our job so much more difficult Checky. Didst thou not hear the command to retreat?" Helen asked after she had teleported Checky out of his mach and to the other side of the outer wall.

"You all are stupid! A woman's life is on the line and you can't even give me the…" his sentence was cut off when Jack grabbed his collar and shoved him against the wall.

"Look! We tried and we failed! Whatever Clytemnestra did to Horn Tail after bringing him back, he is far more powerful! Even _if_ we managed to find a way to focus all out crystal power, I doubt that it would be enough, so don't tell me that we don't care!" Checky swallowed hard, allowing himself to be led back to their transport and take off back for Edelstein. Inside the castle, Claudine felt as if she were breaking when Hilla gave her a view of what was happening outside right until Skeleth had blasted Checky's mech out of the sky.

"_Logan…_"

"Don't be so sad Claudine, Clytemnestra did say this would happen if you didn't tell her where the Seals were, and now you see that she is serious." Hilla laughed, walking out of the room and closing the door behind her with a firm slam, the echo sounding just like the hole now in Claudine's heart.

* * *

At last, Clytemnestra had the final Pillar of Time and would be able to move Ludibrum from its place to over Ereve, the second stage for opening the conduit. All she had to do was send her shadow knight Eckhart into Edelstein with the Pillar that had located it, dye his hair black and he was able to walk through the village with ease and bring her back the pillar hidden among some dirty clothes. And now all it would take would be to put them around the Time Sphere, and the whole city would move.

"Remain here, and eliminate anyone that comes out or tries to interfere." She commanded to her Shadow Knights as they stood behind her. But just as she was taking her first step towards the chamber, a single shot sounded in the dark and hit the ground at her feet.

"You won't be going anywhere near the Time Sphere!" a voice called out, as the sounds of metal sliding different directions clanked in the dark. Whispers rose around Clytemnestra for a moment while the apparatus behind her glowed with an eerie, angry light.

"I highly doubt that little girl. Do you know who you're dealing with here?" Clytemnestra shouted to the dark.

"Do you?!" came the voice again as another shot thundered. This time Clytemnestra was ready, deflecting the bullet with her hand into one of the decorative pillars around the chamber.

"Knights! Destroy them!" she commanded, the five of them jumping in all directions.

"Silver Squad engage! Keep Clytemnestra from the chamber at all costs!" the voice said, as mecha jumped from the darkness and counter engaged the knights. Two mecha made a run for Clytemnestra but were stopped and then hurled back when chain spears shot out from the apparatus hitting the mecha in the chest. For a moment the pilots felt disoriented from the impact, but soon looked down to the HUD to see the power core flashing bright red. Quickly they reached for their belts only able to unhook one side when the mechs exploded, the pilots screams being drowned out. Abi turned around when she heard the thunder of their explosion, watching as the chains were reabsorbed back into the apparatus as another mech pilot rushed for her, his rocket fist blazing in flames at is launched.

"Why you son of a…" He was cut off when another chain shot from behind Clytemnestra, punching through the mech again, giving the pilot only enough time to watch as the power core went critical and exploded, again leaving Clytemnestra walking calmly into the chamber.

"_No! Mandrel!_ All units, pull back! I repeat pull back, we're getting outta here!"

"_But commander Abi! We still need to…"_

"I know what I said, but if we stay here any longer we're going to get blown up too! Besides we're all low on power after being here for over two months!"

_"What about the SG-88!_"

"Leave it! We don't have enough power to bring it with us, and the internal power on it is probably dead anyway!" As quickly as they could, the Mech Drivers disengaged their fights and began running for a way to get out of the lowest chamber, climbing the ladders and running up the ramps as quickly as they could.

"Master, they're getting away!" Irena shouted, about to give chase when she was stopped by Clytemnestra's firm voice.

"Leave them. Our mission is here." Clytemnestra commanded, waving her hand across the doors blowing them from their hinges, purposefully walking to the Time Sphere and dumping out a small bag on her hip into her hand containing the Pillars of Time.

"Now Ludibrum, let's get you into position." She smiled, opening up the protective shell, holding up the first pillar and placing it into one of the twelve divots at the top of the clock face. Immediately the hands snapped into a vertical position, while pistons and gears behind the sphere began heaving into motion. With each Pillar she placed in the divots, the hands would move to the appropriate stone that had been placed, until at last all twelve stone were situated. With a hard sound, all the gears behind it stopped when a loud, deep voice sounded over head, echoing in the seemingly endless empty space around them.

"World Cannon Key, Online. Detachment protocol is now in effect." Just as Abi and the last of her unit were clearing the thresh hold out of the Clock Tower, the entire top of the tower folded in on itself, sounding like old metal that hadn't been used in years as it moved then turned completely around before slamming down flush with the ground. From the Eos and Helios towers, explosions could be heard as though locks were being disengaged. The entire central city lifted while huge motors could be heard at the towers until the city came back down again, only to slowly rise once more.

"Abi, you really need to see this!" one of the other pilots said. Quickly the rest of the squad ran to the side, watching in horror and surprise as the islands Ludibrum had rested on began shrinking away while moving over the ocean towards Ossyria.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is so very bad." Abi stuttered. It was only a few minutes, but the city was soon rising over the cliff face of Ossyria, coming to a stop over Ereve. As soon as it stopped, the clock tower flipped over as a single cylinder rose high into the air and two arms shot out to each of the towers, which came alive with glowing blue circuits blazing down their walls.

"Abi, we need to get out of here; there's no telling how much more the city is going to transform!"

"All units! I am giving initiating command code 37; get out and meet at the dock! There should be at least one flying engine still there!" As they ran, Ludibrum rotated slightly to match up the towers with the drill hall and the Palace on Ereve; no sooner had the city stopped turning than both tower's roofs unfolded into a receiving conduit, plugging straight into the towers as it set down, while the loud deep voice came again.

"World Cannon Key, Engaged. Lock to Position Two; Main battery preparation now in progress." The top half of Ereve began twisting to the side, revealing below the ground giant conduits and circuits.

"Main Battery Preparations complete: World Cannon now ready for power." The voice said, as Abi and the others flew from the Island, watching their Mechs on the ground floor curl up into a ball, lock the joints and eject the power core making them useless until the power core was reinstalled and an unlock code entered, unique to each driver.

"Now what?" called the driver of the engine, watching as the people far below in the plains of the temporary camp site ran for their lives towards El Nath and the coast to hopefully contact Edelstein and wait to be rescued.

"Let's get back to home base. We'll find out what to do from there." Abi commanded, turning away from the sight below: this fight was quickly getting ugly, and there was so little they could do about it.


	16. Chapter 15: Intensify

**Visit my profile for notes**

* * *

Chapter 15: Intensify

"You did _WHAT?!_" Checky screamed, turning back to face Abi after reporting about what had happened in Ludibrum.

"We had to abandon the Time Sphere; three members of my squad were wiped out in the blink of an eye." Abi repeated, making Checky's anger seems to boil over even further than it already was after having to abandon the mission to save Claudine.

"I don't care if you lost ALL your squad members! Your mission was to keep Clytemnestra as far away from the Time Sphere as you could!"

"That's enough Checky!" Daren firmly announced.

"Stay out of this, it doesn't concern you." Checky shot back. He was just about to tear into Abi again when Daren grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the leg of a Mech.

"LOGAN THAT'S ENOUGH!" Daren shouted, the end of his wand humming with mana while small threads sparked all around it. Checky shoved him off, walking angrily out of the garage mumbling to himself all the while.

"I did what I thought was right…"

"You did the right thing Abi. He's just a little torqued because Claudine's rescue didn't go quite as planned." Jack answered, patting her on the shoulder.

"Is that why one of the SG-88's is missing?" Abi asked, getting her answer from Olsen as he nodded. For the past few hours there had been air ships coming in with loads of passengers from the Ossyrian campsite, surprisingly none of which were being pestered by Clytemnestra.

"So now what do we do? The only thing that's keeping that weapon from getting power is the fact that Claudine hid the other five seals." Abi asked, watching as another large ship docked and began unloading desperate passengers.

"For now, we must become as strong as we can Abi; training, studying, practice, anything that might improve our abilities." Matthew instructed, looking over his shoulder at the sword hanging on his back.

"Well, I'm not sure how we'll do that. The only thing that makes us different from anyone else is that we control four of the five crystals and even that wasn't enough to stop Skeleth." Jenny explained, scratching behind Alden's ears as he leaned into her scratch.

"There exists only one path for us. We must consult Minerva's book of spells." Helen answered just Latimer walked into the circle, his arm in a sling to ease the ache in his shoulder.

"Why would you do that?" he asked: he had heard of the famed book before, but never knew what made it so incredibly special.

"There are things in there we could learn from to give us a boost. Everything we know is only a small fraction of the knowledge Minerva knew." Lillianne answered, somewhat eager herself to know what secrets lay buried for discovery.

"That would make sense; everything we learned was from that book as well. But even then it was only a small portion that we learned from." Phantom announced, yawning over his words as he spoke.

"How have the others been fairing with the portals?" Mercedes asked Latimer, still blinking most of the sleep out of her eyes.

"They were headed to Ariant when I was sent back here. Shinsoo left to help them again, but if they don't get some help soon, I don't think that they'll be able to disable _all_ the portals in time." he explained. Matthew nodded, thinking though his options: time was running out even if they still had partial control of the Cannon's activation. The Heroes still needed training to become more powerful and be a greater influence, but training took time and again, that was something they didn't have.

Luminous stumbled to the ground after waking up and teleporting from Phantom's ship; the looks on their faces were something that he often remembered of the masters in the Order of Light while they considered options to defeat The Black Mage. He was about to make a suggestion when he thought he heard a faint male voice calling to him. Listening closer, he felt as if he should recognize the voice and began following the slight whispers around the town, each moment that passed steadily getting louder as he went until he rounded a corner to see a strange driftwood-like creature hovering in the alley, the energy within it and its eyes glowing a calming blue.

"Come to Ellin…" was the only thing that it said before fading away into the breeze.

"Are you alright? You were running through the streets so fast that you almost ran me over." a young voice said making Luminous turn around to see a girl wearing a red overcoat and bob-cut hair standing before him, her green eyes narrowing for a moment to vertical slits.

"Yes, I'm fine. I must apologize for that. What's your name?" Luminous asked, extending his hand in greeting to her.

"I'm Eva, Evan and Mir's daughter."

"You are the child of a human and a dragon? One of the legendary people known as the Nova?" Eva lowered her brow and pulled her lips to the side of her mouth in confusion.

"Nova? Who are they?" Luminous was about to continue when he remembered that these young people may not be familiar with the past that he was and decided not to peruse it further.

"Nothing, never mind. Tell me did you see anyone besides myself standing here?"

"No, not that I saw." Eva answered, raising one of her eyebrows and turning her head in confusion. Luminous shook his head and sighed, walking back out of the alley where he saw Phantom leaning against the building to his right.

"So you heard it too?" Luminous asked with a huff.

"I didn't hear anything besides this girl calling after you. Why, did you?" Luminous swallowed hard, looking Phantom in the eyes.

"I think I saw and heard Guwaru." This instantly grabbed Phantom's attention, turning his eyes to him from under his Fez.

"Guwaru? Wasn't he slain by Magnus all those years ago?" Eva could hardly keep up with the conversation, looking back and forth between the two of them as though waiting for an explanation.

"I doubt it; he was a spirit after all. The only thing that Magnus has ever been after is power, just as the Black Mage was."

"Yes, but Magnus' want for power will only stop when he is finally able to become the leader of the Novans." Phantom chuckled when Eva stamped her foot.

"What are you two talking about? Who is this Guwaru you're talking about?" she demanded when Mercedes walked up the circle.

"He was one of the Black Mage's generals. Why have we brought him up? I though Luminous said he was destroyed by Magnus?" she asked, coming to them when she found that Luminous and Phantom had disappeared from the group.

"He was, but I was just contacted by him saying to come to Ellin; I have no idea where that is." Luminous replied.

"Actually, Ellin became Ellinia on Victoria, though I wouldn't know if any of the old forest still exists." Mercedes answered, recalling her experiences of arduous tasks for different people around the town.

"To be truthful, said forest still does live and flourish. I can take thee to it for I was once there in the time nigh the sealing of The Black Mage." Helen suddenly answered, appearing beside them in a plume of mana.

"You? You were around right after the Black Mage was sealed?" Phantom asked in surprise while Eva shifted her weight to lean against a building, getting a sense that something great was about to be told.

"Aye and nay, for whilst I was still young, mine journey required that i return in time to the camp erected and led by Athena. Yon encampment was in grave danger, and we six traveled through a rift in time to ensure the encampment's survival. Since the defeat of The Black Mage, I hast made it mine duty to tend a barrier I set up, whence Ephenia lay under seal. That land high-lone is what remains of Ellin." Luminous walked to her, looking her straight in the eye with an intense dark power lust, grinning as he stood before her.

"Then take me there." Luminous demanded.

"Thou doest wot said journey will endue us nigh unto Henesys and Clytemnestra, dost thou not?" Helen asked as the Amethyst power within her flared around her body in response to Luminous' blood lust.

"I don't care if I have to go by myself. I am going to that forest." Luminous snarled, both Helen and he locking gazes for some time until Helen smiled and shook her head.

"I shall accompany thee. The Barrier shalt only respond to me." Mercedes and Phantom walked up to Luminous, nodding that they too were coming along when Eva stood outside the circle with her hands behind her back as though waiting for an invitation.

"Can I come along?" She asked innocently just as Helen was about to activate a long range transport spell, mana fizzing into the air as she dispelled it.

"Eva, hath thou consulted thy parents?" Helen asked. Eva snorted and walked into the circle, making room for her small frame.

"I've heard so many stories of their adventures when you guys were still kids. I want to have adventures of my own." She announced crossing her arms, determined that she was going with them no matter what. Helen sighed long, turning her eyes to the sky and shaking her head knowing that once this child had made up her mind about something she was going to do it and held her hands up, initiating the spell.

"Thou art hard of spirit, just as Jack was in his youth." Helen laughed as they all disappeared in a plume of violet flames that were watched by a shadowy figure standing unnoticed just down the road from where they disappeared. A passing boy happened to notice the figure which turned to him slightly and put a finger to his lips before turning and seeming to disappear into the winds.

* * *

It felt like Yoshumari had been waiting for nearly a day after visiting Nexus when Starling and the others finally showed up in Ariant, telling them the information he had gathered from Nexus about the portals.

"So that's it. No wonder these things have been getting stronger with each one that we encounter. But how are we supposed to take down this one with just a few of us? Latimer had figured out how to use his cloak and he was our best shot against these things." Patricia asked when Yoshumari sighed a shook his head as though unsure himself.

"We'll manage. But for now we still need to stop the creature. While I was waiting for you to get here, I did find out where the portal is and scouted it out myself." he said, turning and leading them through the town and out the southern gate.

"You do know that this place is nothing but a bunch of sand right Yoshumari?" Vondra asked in somewhat of an annoying tone.

"Yes I know."

"And you do know that any tracks you leave will be gone by now, right?" Vondra pointed out until Yoshumari held up his hand, revealing dots of Dark Nalcana energy making a trail into the desert. Vondra chuckled and shrugged as Shinsoo shifted to his Dragon form, crouching on the ground allowing Vondra, Patricia, and Ashura to climb on his back, while Starling was content to jump on Yoshumari's back as they took to the skies. They followed the trail of Nalcana energy to the portal which was nestled in the middle of what appeared to be an oasis surrounded by cacti with bright blue flowers on the arms of the trunk.

"What kind of creature is this supposed to be?" Patricia asked, looking around at oasis, starting to feel that the cacti appeared to be moving.

"I don't have a clue. The only thing that I do know is that is has something to do with the history of Ariant itself." Yoshumari replied when Shinsoo could be heard growling, looking around at the cacti that surrounded them as though his Protection state were being triggered making Ashura begin to worry.

"Whatever it is we're going to do, we need to do it fast: I really don't want Shinsoo to be in his protection state out here." She called. Starling looked over to Yoshumari, nodding her ready as his Nalcana flared, taking the form of a large sword. With a wave of his hand, the six of them rushed forward, unprepared for the large creature that waited for them inside emanating a violet glow from its eyes and mouth. Shinsoo flew to the side, narrowly avoiding the creature's spined arm only to roar in pain when his tail was hit having a few spines embedded into the flesh. Tumbling and spinning, Shinsoo managed to land, skidding through the sand. But with the loose surface his claws wouldn't dig in to stop him.

"Is that a giant cactus?!" Vondra asked after avoiding the surprising attack.

"I would imagine so Vondra! Its spines feel real enough!" Shinsoo called, growling as he bit onto the spines and pulled them out of his tail. Using the cactus' distraction of Shinsoo, Patricia hurtled into the side of the creature, hitting it hard enough that part of its body caved under the pressure of the hit spraying dark cactus juice from its flesh. With a roar, the cactus swung at Patricia, barely missing her as she teleported away, giving way to Vondra who lunged at it from sand level and sliced through its arm, spraying its juice all over the place staining the sand a dark reddish violet color. The cactus creature made and ethereal roar, swinging its other hand down when it caught sight of Starling. With a quick sidestep, she avoided the hit and cracked off rounds that punched through its body, leaving holes where they had gone through but was swiped away when the creature swung its hand at her while she wasn't looking.

Vondra spun around a spine from the head of the creature, using it as a spring board and rocketed down to catch Starling, finding that she had a few long spines stuck in her left arm. Ashura dismounted Shinsoo, holding her spear forward as dragon's wings made of pure light exploded from her back while a dragon's tail swished in the air behind her, surging forward so fast that the sand at her feet took nearly a minute to move when a large slash appeared on the side of the creature. Yoshumari used the moment the creature was knocked off balance and ran to the front, swinging hard enough that a shock wave pushed the creature to the ground, then swung again releasing an arch of Nalcana power cutting straight through the middle of the creature, spilling its juice onto the sand in a big puddle as the halves fell apart.

"Starling! Are you alright?" Yoshumari called, running over to where Vondra propped her up after catching her.

"Yeah I think so, but these spines don't come out, and their driven pretty deep too leaving me down one arm and one gun." She winced. Yoshumari looked around for a moment when Paticia finally came up to them.

"Patricia, do you think you can teleport these things out of her skin?" Yoshumari asked. Patricia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I only know how to transport myself. I've learned some better teleporting techniques from Helen and Grendal, but nothing of this caliber." She explained.

"It's aright Patricia. I'll live until we can get back to town and find a healer." Starling said, trying to sit up further only to wince in pain when the sand under her good arm gave way.

"That will take too long. Besides, the creature is getting back up." Shinsoo said, walking over to them, and holding his claws over Starling's arm, dulling the pain slightly.

"That can't be! I sliced that thing in half! You saw it split!" Yoshumari exclaimed, all of them turning to see the creature drawing its body back together and standing again to its full height, letting out a loud roar.

"What the _hell_ is that thing?!" Vondra asked, looking at where she had cut off its arm, seeing that it was fully healed.

"It modeled after a creature of Nihal Legend named Deo. No one really knows if it exists or not, but it sure looks like it does." Shinsoo replied, tensing his hand as he looked back to the creature.

"While your parents were still learning, they faced a creature that was modeled after Deo, and it was a creature conjured from Dark Alchemy. But this regenerating power it has was not part of what they defeated." Shinsoo explained, rushing forward in a blast of wind hauling his claws through Deo's side and tearing a chunk of its flesh off, but finding that the chuck stuck to his hand because of the spines making him howl in pain.

"SHINSOO! You'll pay for that!" Ashura shouted, rushing forward again with a burst of speed before slamming her spear into Deo's head, activating her Dragon's Roar downwards through his body, making it explode into chucks and showers of goop.

"Ashura! You fool!" Yoshumari called, slamming his hands into the sand as mana rushed down his arms, making an iron wall shoot up from the ground and block the incoming spines.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Yoshumari shouted to Ashura once the shower had ceased.

"I was taking care of Deo, what do you think?"

"And trying to rain down death on us all in the process? We have enough problems trying to keep ourselves from getting hit by that thing." Yoshumari reprimanded.

"Well then I guess w don't have to worry…" her sentence was cut off when the pool of goo that was left of its body pulled together around her, swallowing her as Deo's fleshy body pulled back together. Vondra growled hard, looking over her shoulder at the Gaia of Flames draped on her shoulder and then looked down the small chip of crystal power on her wrist.

"_Let's see what kind of power this thing has then._" Vondra thought, closing her eyes as Patricia and Yoshumari rushed forward to try and unbury Ashura from within her fleshy tomb.

"_Something powerful, something with a lot more cutting power than my daggers."_ She thought, falling back slightly when she didn't feel the weight of the cloak on her shoulders, opening her eyes to see a large katana hanging in the air before her.

"Guys! Stand aside!" she shouted, grabbing hold of the Katana in a blur as she pulled on a small portion of the crystal power, rocketing her towards Deo while the Katana became ablaze with white flames. She hit him with such force that liquid splashed all around, bursting out the other side with Ashura in her arms with a blast of flames surrounding them. Unfortunately a few spines stuck into Vondra's legs and left arm. Patricia spun her staff around, slamming it as hard as she could into Deo before hurling him back to Yoshumari who formed his Nalcana energy into a giant hammer, slamming it as hard as he could into Deo's body, but intern making a few thorns come lose and embed themselves into his gut and shoulders. For a few moments Deo did nothing, slumping over to the front but still standing on his feet until his wounds began closing over itself, making Deo roar aloud. However the place where Vondra had cut through healed over as though it were a bad scar instead of a fully healed wound. Yoshumari pulled through his pain, looking up at the where the wound was, his mind racing as he thought.

"_That was the spot that Vondra hit. It's a scar now, not fully healed. That must mean it's vulnerable to fire!_ Shinsoo! See if you can hit that thing with a blast of fire!" He called. Shinsoo was still trying to pry the needles out of his foreleg but grit his teeth and took to the skies anyway taking a deep breath as his chest swelled, radiating the heat of flames that built, and spewing them as though they were a river enveloping Deo as he screamed swatting aimlessly at his bodiless foe. In the aftermath, Deo stumbled around the glassed platform he had been surrounded with while he tried to heal his scorched outer skin, some of the flesh falling to the ground in smoldering piles before becoming nothing but ashes.

"Hit him again!" Yoshumari commanded, turning to see that Shinsoo looked tired.

"I'll try, but that attack takes quite a bit of energy." Shinsoo replied, breathing in as deeply as he could as his chest swelled once more, belching out a wall of flames that poured on Deo, scorching away more of his flesh, but not enough to defeat him before Shinsoo became too tired to fly and fell to the ground, driving the needles in his hand further. All of them tried to push aside the pain of the spines to fight, but instead were met with Deo's dull fists as he swung back and forth, slapping them all around his desert as though they were play things; he even picked up Shinsoo and hurled him into a sand dune.

Ashura, despite not having any spines in her body, still found herself being hurtled across the sands as Deo flailed and smashed any and everything around him. Yoshumari squinted his eyes open to see Deo raising his fully healed arm up, spines springing from it and looking directly at him. Yoshumari tried to move, but the stinging pain of the spines in his flesh made it impossible to move quickly enough; even his wings hurt too much to move him.

"_Someone, anyone… help._" He thought. Just as Deo was bringing down his hand, a loud drone of bullets tore through the air, slamming into Deo hard enough that they pushed him off balance and allowed something to slam down on his head, hitting him with enough force that part of his face smashed in.

"Looks like you guys could use a hand or two." Dumia's voice called through the external speakers, holding the mech's arms up as jets of fire flared from the wrists and fired off the rocket fists, slamming Deo back into the ground as he tried to get up.

"Dumia, that thing is vulnerable to fire! Use what you can!" Starling called, wincing as another stab of pain from a broken leg flared through her body.

"Fire eh? Well then, let's make this thing BURN!" she shouted, retracting her fists and activating the flamethrower bursting from the chest of the mech as a cloud of roaring flames. They hit Deo hard enough that he was again thrown to the ground, writhing in pain as the flames burned off his skin and flesh. Dumia only gave Deo enough time to try and stand back up, hitting him again with another blast of flames, tearing flesh from his body and eradicating chucks of flesh like paper.

With his body still burning, Deo swung his arm hard at Dumia, spines springing from his arm longer and sharper than the ones that were sticking out of the others. With a confident smile, Dumia held up her arm as a bright light shone from it, solidifying into a large wall of golden steel that drove a large spike into the ground and dropped support arms from the back, stopping Deo's swing dead while winds blew around them from the impact. The Shield quickly dissipated allowing Dumia to hold up both her arms as the Gatling's erupted into a blaze of burning gunpowder and deafening droning cutting through his arm.

Turning back to Deo, she launched at him, slamming her rocket fist into the top of his head and knocking him to the ground once again. Landing hard on his body Dumia then plunged her hands into his flesh spreading it apart like a door before diving in, cactus juice squirting everywhere as she dug further and further into Deo's body.

"DUMIA! NO!" Vondra shouted, trying to get up, but the pain of the holes left by the spines prevented her from moving more than a few steps. As Dumia dug into his body, Deo struggled and flailed until his flesh healed over, rocking up onto his feet once more and walking towards them as his skin healed. Ashura turned to face him, holding her spear forward as a dragon's tail and wings exploded from her back, humming as the mana used to initiate them burned while her arms and legs swelled after activated her Dragon's blessing, waiting for Deo to attack.

But just as he was readying to swing down on them, he stopped, grunting and hissing as though he were in pain while putting his arms on his chest and stumbling back. Another few seconds passed and his eyes became nothing but bonfires while patches of his skin looked to be lighting up before bulging and then bursting as though it were a flaming boil. Another few seconds passed until Deo was consumed by the flames, stopping and standing still for a few moments before his body exploded, sending burning chucks everywhere. Once the explosion had calmed, everyone looked over to see Dumia's mech resting its hands on its knees before standing up and walking back to them, covered from top of cab to ankle joint in cactus juice and bits of cactus flesh.

"And that my friends, is how you barbecue a cactus!" She said after getting close enough and pulled back to the cockpit canopy. Yoshumari let out a breath of relief then grunted as the ache in his shoulder came back from having the spine removed from his arm.

"Let's get back to Ariant and see if we can find a Priest of Priestess who can help us out or at least a doctor." Starling suggested as they all painfully agreed, helping each other carry, limp, or walk out of the portal which was smashed by Dumia as soon as they got out.

"This is going to take too long on foot." Patricia moaned, slumping down to the sands, taking a breather.

"Good thing that I asked this one to come with me then." Dumia called as Evan and Mir descended from the skies, landing just a bit away from the group allowing them all to climb aboard save for Shinsoo who stubbornly insisted that he would be able to fly back to Ariant on his own. Dumia could only laugh, pulling the canopy back up on her mech and began running back for town, following after her friends in Mir's shadow.

* * *

"She could have at least left us a note." Jack sulked, leaning against the garage door shaking his head disappointedly, hoping they would have been able to talk with Helen about what they needed to do, but since she was gone there was no way of asking her. His attention was drawn to Tzarax in his human form, Black Phoenix, Brilliance and a woman with ground length white hair talking together while what appeared to be an adolescent dragon lay next to them, seeming to enjoy their conversation. Curiosity got the better of him as he walked over to better hear what was being said.

"…just don't know. She was a being created by the Black Mage, how do you know for certain that she won't be like the one controlling her?" Tzarax asked, looking to Phoenix with concern in his eyes.

"Tzarax, I know this because I have talked with her, the _real_ Clytemnestra. It's as Yoshumari had said; she is the exact copy of me, the only thing that is wrong is that she has a split of my Life Stream Anchor." Phoenix argued in return as the woman with long hair began speaking in a gentle tone, instantly making Jack recognize her as Keminsolar.

"Asim has been training extensively under my watch, and his powers are equal to that of his mother, possibly even more so. I have no doubt that he would be able to do as you are thinking." She answered. Tzarax crossed his arms and shook his head in disagreement.

"This is pure foolishness mayak Shenuk. She was created using the darkness of the Black Mage! How can you justify letting her live when the possibility of her following in the Black Mage's footsteps is all too real?!" Asim nudged Keminsolar, and seemed to ask a question at which Keminsolar responded, pointing to Tzarax as though she were translating what it was that he had said. When she finished, Asim nodded a moment, thinking through what it was that he would say.

"Hana mal berkomo Tzarax. Yo michan llem feg jue ahn atuk heka archen." Tzarax nodded and sighed in response to his comment.

"Wise words from the Grand Elder Roco, Asim; but it is not as simple as just giving someone the opportunity for life when they have the potential for following the footsteps of the greatest monster that ever lived here in Ossyria." Asim looked to Keminsolar again as she translated what he had said again.

"Aya kegon Tzarax. Fekle aya, wes aya atuk nex ertan gesno econ llem o solar."

"Mo olen ahn yo metsu berko! Jal solmi mo deshe o dakote tegose Asim?!" Tzarax snapped, unfolding his arms and taking on an aggressive stance when Keminsolar stepped in front of him and clamped a hand down hard on his shoulder.

"Offon azte Tzarax!" she commanded, making Tzarax become quite subdued as he bowed his head and backed away slightly.

"Rimi Shenuk Keminsolar." he replied humbly.

"Asim may be a youngling, but his power is still far greater than you can comprehend at this current time. When the time comes, I will be there to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Not to mention that he gave his word she will remain in the path of light." Tzarax looked away as Phoenix walked up to him and placed and hand on his shoulder.

"Please Tzarax, you of all dragons should know that Keminsolar would never want harm to come to any people here in Ossyria." She said, almost begging him to agree to their plan.

"It's not Asim I doubt, it's Clytemnestra. I will agree to this on one condition: for one year, she is to be under scrutinizing probation after Asim has done what he will do. Only after that one year has passed and nothing has come of it will I feel comfortable." Phoenix nodded to his conditions, nodding to Keminsolar who transformed as she and Asim took to the skies and returned to Oldesta where his training would be intensified so he would be ready when the time came.

"What was that all about?" Jack asked as Phoenix and Brilliance walked back to them.

"Do you remember when you took us to the Temple of Time to speak with Yoshumari and Dia?" Phoenix answered, making Jack think for a moment or two and then nodding when he remembered.

"When I spoke with them, Yoshumari revealed to me that Clytemnestra is actually a clone of myself, a complete clone I believe he called it. But in doing so, split my Life Stream so that her life and mine are connected to the Life Stream in the same exact place, causing the Life Stream to become unstable; if left this way for too long, the Life Stream will eventually begin to effect Ossyria. Yoshumari then suggested to speak with Asim."

"Saia's offspring." Jack interjected, bringing back the biting feelings from Saia's unfortunate death.

"Yes; he has been training with Keminsolar and says that he will be able to take her Life Force and _create_ an anchor all her own to the Life Stream." Tzarax snorted, looking away and crossing his arms while growling low in his throat.

"It's still a bad idea." He growled, making Brilliance shake his head. But just as Phoenix was about to continue, a maniacal giggle could be heard coming from somewhere behind the garage. Lillianne ran up to them, looking around trying to find out where the laughing was coming from, knowing that it could only mean trouble for them if they didn't find _her_.

"Come on out Klyde! I know you're there." Jenny called, Alden's fur stood on end and bared his fangs while the horn on his head fizzed with red threads of power.

"Oh come on, do you REALLY think that I would play with you here? There are too many people here that would want to spoil the fun! Besides…" Something landed behind Tzarax making him whirl around, partially transforming his arm into that of his Dragon Form and swinging at her so hard that contrails formed, only to miss when she disappeared and reappeared next to Jack, leaning on his shoulder.

"…I didn't come to play." Her voice suddenly didn't have the normal giggly, maniacal sound to it and instead was serious.

"What could be so important that _you_ were sent to tell us about it?" Jack asked.

"My employer has tried to deliver the message many times to you, but you are all so busy with everything else that you couldn't hear him. The message is from Nexus, and it has to do with the World Maple Tree and its transcendence. Khaled, the human name of the Temple of Time has said that Mundus Arbor is in danger, and the only way to help him is to find Alice."

"Alice? Who is Alice?" Matthew asked as he and the others came over to hear what was going on.

"Alice is the Transcendence of the World Maple Tree, and has been here since the population of Ossyria when Minerva and Corus finished. But she went missing when the Black Mage tried to destroy Ossyria the first time."

"Are there any clues that we can have that would help us in the search? From what this sounds like, we don't have time to be searching around aimlessly; we don't even know what she looks like." Jack said with an exasperated tone.

"I believe that I can answer that." Athena called, causing everyone to turn to her.

"There were many times that I would follow Mercedes into Minerva's throne room, and I would often see two large portraits hanging above her throne of a young woman and man, with space for a third that I can only guess what it was for. If we can get to Orbis, we may be able to find these paintings and possibly even a clue as to what might have happened to her." Athena offered. Matthew nodded; going to Orbis would bring them quite close to Ereve, but they needed that information and at this point, they needed to do all they could to get the upper hand on Clytemnestra.

"Alright… Brilliance, tell the Tickets that we're going to be ready to leave for Orbis in about ten minutes. This might be a mistake, but it's better than doing nothing. Besides, it'll give us a chance to look through the book of spells and learn something else that will help us." Matthew commanded as Brilliance nodded to go on to his task. Jack turned to Klyde, chuckling to himself.

"I never thought that you could have a serious side Klyde." He said as Klyde turned to him, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"Oh that? That was just an act… here; A little present for you." Klyde laughed, dropping a small package in Jack's hands that he immediately hurled into the air which popped open raining down confetti on those standing around in the streets. Jack sighed until he looked down at his feet to see a coin turn a bright white color before exploding, sending him, Lillianne and Olsen flipping head over heels through the air, landing in a pile of dirt that had been pulled aside from the garage.

"KLYDE!" Jack screamed after pulling himself out of the dirt pile, brushing off the clumps and ridding his hair of the grit that he could feel on his scalp.

"I swear that woman is going to get us killed sooner or later." Lillianne coughed as she brushed her legs off, swinging Maha over her shoulder and slung it across her back.

"I doubt it; she's having too much fun. Let's go, we have some things to find out about this Alice." Jack suggested, meeting the others who were already gathered there waiting for them to show up.

* * *

"You seem as though you are much more resilient than I've given you credit for Claudine." Clytemnestra prodded, walking around Claudine as she hung in the middle of the room from the shackles around her wrists. She weakly looked up to meet her gaze, the looked past her to see a sickly looking Shinsoo laying in the hall across from her.

"It's been nearly a two weeks, and yet through all this, you still won't tell me where those seals are. I would…"

"What have you done to Shinsoo?!" she demanded. Clytemnestra looked behind her for a moment with an uninterested glance, flipping her hand to the wind as she spoke.

"That worthless waste of space? That is nothing more than a pale copy of the original; he'll die within a few days. Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was going to say that I would delve into your mind and retrieve the information myself, but that would merely be an unneeded expenditure of power…"

"Don't you mean that you'd be afraid of not being able to control your body?"Claudine answered smartly. She had seen Clytemnestra walking around the palace from time to time, but the look in her eyes was anything but harsh, in fact it was the complete opposite. For a brief moment, whispers filled the air as Clytemnestra pulled her hands tight around her back.

"…not to mention a smart mouth." Clytemnestra finished, turning around and holding her hands forward which undid the shackles on her hands and dropped her to the ground where three frosted glass cups waited, each of them upside down appearing to have a scrap of paper inside.

"Under those cups is the name of the person that will be the next to die should you refuse to tell me the location of the remaining seals. I will leave you to your decision, and when I return if you haven't chosen one, I will choose for you." She said, walking with a purposeful gate out the door and down the hall.

"_The comment she made about me not being able to control my body while I search her mind for the information I seek was more than accurate. But if I am to maintain control, I must do what I need to in order to get the information that I want._" She thought, walking back to the main throne room where Hilla and Arkarium stood waiting for her return.

"I didn't expect that you would be back. What news do you have for me Hilla?" She said bluntly, walking over to the frame while it embraced her.

"My soldiers are ready to mobilize at any time master; Azwan is a fortress of the Dead. Should you require my services, I will be ready." Clytemnestra slowly nodded to her before turning her attention to Arkarium.

"And what of your exploits at the Temple of Time?" Arkaium knelt low to the ground with the aid of his staff, speaking in a somewhat worried tone.

"I must say that my progress on the Seal has come to a standstill. Whatever it is The Guardians have done, I can no longer work with the seal and defend my position in tandem. While the Seals closer to the center are still intact, the current layer I have been attending to has had its portal removed."

"I see. And it would take too long for you to make new portals to disrupt the seal layers you are currently working on. Hilla, send some of your troops with Arkarium to defend his position." Clytemnestra commanded as Hilla and Arkarium both bowed and disappeared in a dark swirl of mana, leaving her to her thoughts.

"_Soon I will be able to have full control over this body. With the power that I will obtain,n anything will be possible."_

* * *

The five of them appeared in the Ellinia forest in a howl of flames, singeing the bushes and ferns around them leaving a strange violet residue.

"This place looks familiar." Luminous noted, walking around the area when something sounded as though it were flying behind them, fluttering from branch to branch circling him. With a swing of his staff, Luminous blew a hole through the branches, catching a glimpse of bright colors that disappeared to the right only to have another hole blown in the branches, stopping the creature which tired to fly up, but was stopped again when Phantom hurled a card forward sticking into a tree at the back.

"Come out and I won't turn you into dust." Luminous commanded as a Papilio Fairy climbed out from the bushes, daintily landing on one of the branches looking around at them when she caught a glimpse of Helen.

"YOU! You're the one that put our queen under seal!" the fairy shouted, jumping into the air hovering over Helen before opening her wings wide and sprinkling a light green dust from her wings until Mercedes slapped her away from over Helen into a bramble, the huge thorns shooting through her wings, holding her in place.

"You were the one who hurt Ephenia! You hurt her!" the fairy shouted, trying to pull her wings from the thorns making Eva look back to Helen with questioning eyes.

"Helen? Is what this fairy says true?" Mercedes asked, her shoulders and arms tensing as though the very thought made her angry.

"Verily whilst I was still young. I was implored by Athena to go up through time and ensure the camp's survival directly following the Sealing of The Mage. Should she have been allowed to continue, mine own grandfather wouldst never come to pass, nor would I. Our charge was not to strike her down, but to subdue her therefore needing said seal."

"But you still hurt our Queen all those years ago! I swore to myself that if I ever saw you again that I would kill you myself!" the fairy shouted, beginning to cry as the pain in her wings began to catch up to her.

"Quiet Papilio!" Mercedes scolded, making the fairy shrink back slightly.

"Why was it that she needed to subdue your queen in the first place?" Mercedes asked with a heated tone. The fairy lowered her brow, looking up at Mercedes hard while trying to find a foot hold and ease the pain in her wings.

"Because her one love was taken from her by the stinking humans! She loved him like she loved no one else! After he was taken away she vowed that she would kill all the humans and she almost succeeded, save for this human and her friends." The little fairy shouted, still trying to free herself of the thorns. The words she said saddened Mercedes, shaking her head and turning away from them for a moment, walking a short distance away to think.

"Mercedes? Didst thou wot Ephenia?" Helen asked. Mercedes turned and nodded over her shoulder solemnly.

"Not very well mind you. But she was very good friends with my mother after my father became King of the Elven people. She was always a loving fairy; the only thing I know that could turn her into this is the Black Mage himself. Only _he_ could take something so pure and turn it into something so twisted." Her voice became more and more agitated as she spoke until she was speaking through clenched teeth, until Phantom came and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Perhaps going and seeing her would answer some questions." Phantom uttered in a low voice. Sighing heavily, she nodded, following Helen as she guided them through the forest following the trail of magic she had left behind all those years ago. They all followed in silence until she came to the edge of the barrier that she had set up, which was considerably weaker since the poisons had dissipated, but still prevented any humans from coming any closer to Ephenia. Folding her hands and making a diamond with her forefingers and thumbs, she whispered a few words and brought it down, allowing her access to the veil spreading fern, still sporting the small glowing butterfly wings.

"This is where Ephinia lived?" Phantom asked, noting that it was nothing more than a thick collection of trees and flowers.

"And still lives." Helen answered, pulling on the fern to open the veil, revealing the giant nest in the center of the light where the egg still rested and a strange trunk-like creature hovering next to it. The creature turned to them, hovering closer and fixating on Luminous with its seemingly emotionless eyes.

"Are you the one called Luminous?" the creature asked, sounding as if he were speaking with his lower jaw jutted out.

"Guwaru? What are you doing here? I thought Magnus killed you." Luminous asked. The creature only stared at him for a while, his eyes flickering as he seemed to think before speaking once again.

"I am not Guwaru, I am his twin spirit, Guwara. My brother was given the charge of watching over the Master Crystal you seek." Luminous eyes narrowed as he smiled darkly, suddenly shaking his head realizing that his darkness was trying to take over.

"He was the guardian of a Master Aurora Crystal? Where is it?" Guwara stared at him for a bit, his eyes moving from one side to the other.

"He was approached by Magnus soon after he had been charged with its protection. But the charisma and influence of the Black Mage turned him into a spirit of destruction, and not a forest guardian. Eventually, he gave the crystal to The Mage as a token of his allegiance which he then intern gave to Ephenia in return for learning her butterfly magic."

"Are you telling us that Ephenia is the one that has the crystal?" Eva asked. Guwara turned to her, eyeing her for a moment and then turning back to Luminous.

"Yes."

"Then what happened to Guwaru?" Eva pressed, since she was never told the tale of what had happened.

"He was slain by Magnus, taking the power that The Black Mage gave to Guwaru which is what made him into such a terrible spirit. His vessel was destroyed, thus releasing him from this plain. Once a Spirit is released, it can never be brought back." Guwara explained, turning and hovering away from them to parts unknown since it seemed to Helen that its task was complete. Luminous sighed, turning to Helen about to ask whether or not Ephenia was still under seal when a shrill shout pierced the air.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YO NEVER TO COME HERE AGAIN!" the voice shouted, flying down to Helen and hovering before her sporting green, pig-tailed hair. Helen bowed her head slightly before looking up and walking past her.

"Wait, No! Don't come any closer! You promised that no one would ever come here again!" the child-like fairy called, flying over to where the egg lay, spreading her arms as wide as she could as if that would stop Helen and the others from coming any closer.

"We have not come hither to slay thy queen. We have come for a crystal, given to her by The Black Mage, which belongs to this magus." Helen said gently, holding a hand to Luminous as he approached, his eyes darkening slightly as his skin tingled from feeling the presence of the crystal.

"Are you going to wake her? Will taking that crystal return her to the way she was before?" the fairy asked eagerly, looking around as other Papilio surrounded the area, looking on in excited anticipation to have their queen walking among them again.

"Thine hope should be saved for yonder time when she hath proven her serenity. I will not wake she that I put into eternal sleep, but I shall only remove the Crystal." Helen answered. The Fairy sadly nodded as Helen gently walked over to the egg holding her hand over the shell, making a small part of it disappear.

"Luminous, I ask that thou guide mine hand. You others must stay thy voice. While this spell is the Eternal Sleep, confiscating a portion as such creates instability and could wake her." she whispered. Luminous walked over to her, looking over the portion of Ephenia that had been pulled away for what felt like a long while until he noticed a scepter lying next to her body with a red crystal in the top.

"There, that's the Master Crystal." Luminous pointed out as Helen held out her hand, slowly and carefully levitating it out of the egg. Eva watched as best she could from her vantage point, but no matter what she did she couldn't see what was going on. While Phantom and Mercedes weren't looking, she ran back to the vines surrounding the area, climbing them as fast as she could to get a better view of what was going on.

Just as Helen was about to pull the scepter from inside the egg, Eva grabbed onto a branch that was slightly broken, splintering the branch even further making a loud cracking noise. The noise made Ephenia's hand wrap around the handle, opening her eyes and looking over at Helen who still tried to pull the scepter away from her before holding her hand out, a swirl of energy slamming into Helen's chest making her walk away against her will.

"Who are you?" she demanded, breaking away the rest of the shell before hitting Luminous with another swirl of energy that took over his body and held him in place. For a short while Ephenia looked around at the people standing around her, recognizing Helen instantly.

"YOU! You embarrassed me all those years ago, and now you've returned to do the same again!"

"Ephenia!" Mercedes shouted, making the queen stop and turn to face her, boiling anger on her face until she completely faced her and her features softened.

"I feel as if I know you." Ephenia muttered.

"I would not be hurt if you didn't. You were a consort of my Mother, Arndis. I was still quite young at the time." Mercedes replied. Ephenia narrowed her eyes as she thought; memories from long ago beginning to catch.

"Oh yes, now I remember. The golden haired child of Arndis; my how you've grown into such a beauty, just as your mother was." she complemented, smiling at her.

"Time hasn't been a kind teacher to you I can see Ephenia. Though I don't remember much of you from when I was a child, I still remember that you were much kinder than this. Not to mention that the haze of Black Magic coming from you is thick and unbearable."

"Black Magic? Oh you mean this?" Ephenia chortled, holding up her scepter and admiring the red gem in the top.

"Give… that… back!" Luminous growled, struggling to break free of her hold, but was only made the stronger as he was made to stand in place.

"Quiet human. This crystal was given to me by my love, The Black Mage, and I will never give it to the likes of you."

"Ephenia, that crystal in your scepter was stolen from the Order of Light; the young man you are holding in place is a mage from that Order. Please, give us the crystal and we will be on our way." Mercedes reasoned when Ephenia looked back to Luminous with a crazed smile on her face, raising her scepter as small lights flew from her body, taking on the form of small butterflies.

"So you're the hindrance he was talking about! I never thought that I would ever meet you in person! And now all these years later I can finally do what he couldn't!" Electricity began to thread from one light to the next making their skin itch until Eva came jumping down on top of her, pushing Luminous and Helen out of the way but catching the brunt of the shock through her small body. Helen teleported to her and caught her as she slumped to the ground then teleported away as Mercedes drew her guns and took aim at her.

"Ephenia! Just give us the crystal."

"Never! My power was nothing until I received this from him!" she shouted, raising her hand high as poison vapors began seeping from the giant flowers that still grew around her 'throne room' to the floor in a thick blanket.

"Listen! The Black Mage had no room in his heart for anyone! What makes you think that you were nothing more than a tool for him?!" Phantom called, drawing his cane sword as a crescent moon flared to life on his forehead joined by four diamonds around it.

"YOU LIE!" Ephenia shouted, raising her scepter and slamming it down as fire erupted from the ground in fountains towards him. He leapt out of the way just before the flames hit, hurling a card from his deck forward which erupted into a blast of cards. With a simple flip of her wrist Ephenia teleported to another part of the area, holding her hand forward where a large butterfly shone and spread its wings, blocking the shower of arrows that Mercedes had fired. Phantom looked down at his wrist, seeing that he had a card in it that copied a fire spell from a Mage he had encountered, slipping his sword back into the sheath and holding his hand out as blasts of fire shot from his hand. Ephenia simply laughed as her wings glowed with a bright red orange light, flapping them hard enough that a wind blew through the area, knocking Mercedes arrows and Phantom's fireballs to the side.

Luminous grit his teeth, breaking free of her control with an angry shout, spinning his staff between his fingers before slamming it down on the ground. Fizzing dark power shot through the ground to Ephenia before erupting from the ground as spear chains, tossing her in the air from their upward thrust. Phantom used the opportunity he was given, rushing forward in a burst of blue and black light while the spell in his left eye glowed fiercely, looking for her weakest spot before drawing his cane once again, flashing around her in a blur of light that brought Ephenia down to the ground again.

Mercedes legs and arms glowed as ferns curled around her legs while grand fairy's wings sprouted from her back, hurtling her forward in a blur of soft green light. However her forward assault was stopped when she felt a surge of power stinging her body from all around as a net of electricity had formed, bringing her to her knees. Luminous grit his teeth even harder, dropping to the ground and appearing next to Ephenia in a flash of light, striking her multiple times with the staff itself before spinning around and shoving the end of the staff forward, knocking her back with the spray of arrow shaped lights.

"This kind of power you three exude can only mean that _YOU_ were the ones that took away my love all those years ago!" Ephenia shouted leaping into the air once again and slamming her scepter hard into the ground making fire erupt in all directions. Luminous folded his hands as a dome of light appeared around him, shoving the fire away just as Mercedes came leaping over him. Ephenia was readying her next net of electric butterflies when she felt a sharp stab of pain behind her knees as Phantom struck her legs, bringing her to the ground and flashing away leaving her vulnerable to Mercedes. From her position in the air, Mercedes drove down from her position in a blast of red orange light while arrows made of the same light hissed from her bow guns. The hits if the arrows didn't break Ephenia's skin, but they felt like hundreds of hammers had pelted her body.

"How dare you STRIKE THE QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES!" Ephenia shouted as she turned around, ready to hit Mercedes with a blast of power when she felt another stab of pain in her entire body as Luminous held a giant orb of power over her, a sick smile plastered on his face. When he felt that she had enough, he flashed to her, striking her over and over again into the air with bursts of light from the end of his staff, each time sending her higher and higher into the air. When she was nearly twenty feet from the ground, Luminous slammed her back down to the ground hard enough with chained stones of his dark power that her body bounced off the ground, making her cough up a thick spray of blood.

"Stop! You're killing her!" the green haired Fairy yelled.

"This is the end for you!" Luminous growled, looking down to his Equilibrium meter to see that it was full, folding his hands over one another making a large box of sorts surround him, half made of light magic, the other made of pure dark turning his hair silver. Enormous silver wings sprouted from his back as he swung his staff back, silver light gathering around it until it formed a giant scythe, then hurtled forward for Ephenia as she struggled to get up.

"NOOOOO!" The scream from the small fairy seemed to wake Luminous from his hate filled rage, but it was too late to stop his hard swing. Thinking quickly he tried to teleport away from her but his forward momentum was too much and only moved him slightly in a different direction, unable to stop his swing. When he finally stopped, Luminous looked back at his scythe to see that there was indeed blood dripping from the tip of the blade and turned back to look at what it was that he had done. Ephenia was still on her hands and knees, hissing and groaning through her tightly clenched teeth, reaching to her back with one hand where the stumps of her grand wings stood out on her back, oozing blood down her sides and staining her beautiful red dress. Helen and Eva came back to the area, at which Helen immediately began tending to her wounds; but as she worked, it became painfully clear to Ephenia that she would never again have the beautiful butterfly wings she was born with.

"Take it! Leave me!" She shouted with embarrassed tears, hurling the scepter at Luminous as she stood to her feet and slowly walked back to the large nest where she slumped down. The Papilio that had been watching quickly flew from their hiding places and began tending further to her wounds, giving the hint to the five of them that it was time for them to leave.

"Mage of Light." Ephenia called, rolling to her side and looking back at Luminous.

"I would regulate the use of the Dark Magic you can use. Otherwise, you just may cease to exist." Ephenia warned. Luminous looked back to her with a hard light in his eyes, locking stares with her for a long while.

"If you wish to know the whole story, you must try to remember what your life was like, before the Order of Light was formed." Ephenia's cryptic comment made Luminous' head pound for a moment, as the picture of a beautiful blond woman with white wings running in front of him on a beach shot through his mind. Phantom moved forward and caught him before he fell over, making Luminous look hard at Ephenia before turning and walking away with the others.

"Pray tell what could she have meant with such rhetoric?" Helen asked.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." Luminous growled, taking his weight once again and walking sternly from the palace, the other four walking close behind. As Helen left, she gently let the curtain of vines close when she heard the whimpering sobs of Ephenia as they left.

* * *

"'History of Archery', 'History of Alchemy', 'Into the Forest: a full in depth look at the Minar Forest', The only other thing that's here beside these paintings are a bunch of old Library books." Jack called as he looked over a dusty book shelf.

"Keep looking babe, there's bound to be something here that can give us a clue." Jenny called as she looked through what appeared to be a sleeping chamber that Minerva used, decorated with artifacts from different worlds.

"I think I found something over here." Olsen called, walking into the main palace area with a yellowing scroll I his hand, reading it over silently before reading it aloud.

"_Minerva, thank you for telling me of this place. I can defiantly feel a stronger connection to Mundus here. My only worry is that I wouldn't be able to reach the surface as quickly, but the unexpected tranquility of this underground forest makes up for it. Again, thank you for the suggestion, Alice_. A forest underground? Do you think she means the Sleeping Wood?" Olsen asked. Jenny came walking out, looking at a book she had picked up next to old bed.

"It sounds like it. Listen to this: it's a journal of some kind I found in this room over here.

_'October 7th,_

_It's been nearly a week since I've heard from Alice. Her move to the Forest of Dreams provided a better reach to Mundus Arbor's power, but at the same time it has made me begin to worry. I've sent Aran and Luminous to investigate the area, but they returned saying that Alice was nowhere to be found. Has something happened to her?' _And that's where it stops; after that there are just empty pages."

"That must be when The Black Mage began his assault. She would have no time to write anything." Matthew mused, holding his chin and thinking as he looked over the letter that was sent to Minerva from Alice.

"It seems like we'd make more progress if we were to go to the Sleeping Wood. Perhaps we can find some more clues down there." Lillianne suggested.

"Yes but that would put us awfully close to Ereve." Jenny countered, as Matthew nodded and put the letter aide.

"For now why don't we return to Edelstein. For one week we'll crack open Minerva's Spell book and learn at least one new ability before we go there. That way we'll have something at least more powerful at our disposal."

"But what about your Crystal Power? Shouldn't that be enough?" Lillianne asked.

"While our Crystal Power allows us to use the same skills and abilities with more power, those abilities can only do so much. Our defeat with the Chaos Beast Horn Tail was enough to show us that." Olsen reminded her, holding up a couple shuriken in his hand, watching the light as it reflected off the sharpened edges.

"Yes I know, but you should have been able to take care of him." Lillianne countered when Matthew shook his head.

"I know, but he was far more than any of us could handle. He can be brought down, we just need to become more powerful than he is." Jack nodded to Matthew explanation, pointing to the journal in Jenny's hands.

"We should at least take that thing with us, maybe there's a clue that we haven't seen yet that we can use."

* * *

"So, have you decided yet?" Clytemnestra asked as she sauntered back into the cell holding Claudine who only looked up at her from under her eyebrows.

"Oh, that's a shame. I'll choose one myself then." She said silkily, reaching for one of the glasses before putting her hand on another, lifting it away to reveal the small piece of paper within with the name of the Mayor of Henesys, Stan Bertrium.

"Ah, this old grump." Clytemnestra smiled, turning her eyes to meet those of Claudine

"No wait!"

"It's too late my pretty. You've already waited long enough, and you know I told you I would choose for you if you hadn't chosen already."

"He has nothing to do with the Seals!" Claudine pleaded, hauled to her feet when Clytemnestra waved her hand.

"Then tell me where they are and he won't have to die." Clytemnestra answered. Claudine clenched her teeth; she couldn't tell this monster where the Seals were, but she couldn't let her kill another innocent person.

"Very well then, death it is. Zekeros…"

"No! Stop! I'll tell you where they are!" Claudine pleaded when Clytemnestra turned around and gripped her cheeks hard.

"Too late; you had your chance and I will now show you the consequences of your actions!" she hissed when a large seven headed beast landed behind her, some of the flesh from its body, revealing the bones below as well as streams of what appeared to be black blood flowing through invisible veins.

"You called master?" A chorus of voices asked. Clytemnestra smiled, turning around and ignoring Claudine's pleading as she held up a picture of Stan, the main head lowering itself to get a better picture of the target she wanted them to go after.

"Kill him." Zekeros smiled while thrumming deep in his throat before taking off through a huge double door into the skies. Claudine slumped over, held up by the chains around her wrists as she watched the hydra go.

"You are all so foolish." Clytemnestra sneered, slamming the door behind her as she left, hearing Claudine whimper and cry bringing a smile to her face. She may think herself indestructible, but it would only be a matter of time before she would prove to her otherwise.

* * *

Dureau had been training the past few days, focusing his mind into forcing his body to gain back the power that he once had, and was now able to perform one of his more deadly attacks, the Judgment Spire which used a lot of Agies Energy. However as he rested, he thought he heard the struggling whine of servos outside his room, looking out the window to see a broken down robot stumbling through the shadows behind building being used as a base for the High Guard until the Garage could be rebuilt.

Quickly he retrieved his mace and leapt out the window, landing behind the machine ready to strike when something about this machine made Dureau sick to his stomach; it smelled as though it were made of rotting flesh. When the machine heard him land behind it, it turned to him and reached out a hand to him, trying to speak but its words being broken and staggered.

"K-k-k-k-ki.. kill… me.. p-p-p-p-k-k-ki… please… save us… r-r-r-r-r-release… outside… k-k-k-k-k… Mines… mana tanks…k-k-k-k-k… save us…" As the machine turned around, Dureau suddenly recognized the gut wrenching smell as rotten mana. When it had completely turned around it collapsed to the ground, breaking into hundreds of parts as the hydraulic lines within its body gave way, releasing the putrid black liquid from within, making the smell intensify 100 fold and causing Dureau to turn and relieve his stomach of its contents on the side of the building. However the machine still sounded as though it were trying to speak until Dureau hurled his now more powerful Demon Lash at it, breaking the machine into hundreds more pieces, allowing the machine to power down. When it had, Dureau though he heard whispers surrounded him, similar to those of the Black Mage making him stand at the ready until the whispers died away into one clear voice.

"Thank you. Please save the others that are still trapped within the Mana Tanks." The whisper said before fading away from Dureau's mind.

"Dureau? What's the matter?" Mastema asked as she trotted around the corner after hearing the sounds from behind the building, covering her nose when the smell hit her.

"It was nothing." Dureau muttered, spreading his wings and flying back up to his window: were there still some trace of the Black Mage's doings from 18 years ago?


	17. Chapter 16: Residue of Darkness

Chapter 16: Residue of Darkness

_Darkness: that's all there was all everywhere, was darkness. In front of him he thought that he could see a dull glow, but any time he tried to get near that glow, it would just move away from him. He would try again, but the light would only move away again. And where were his hands? Where were his legs? Did he even have them? He wanted so badly to be out of the darkness that he was willing to do anything just to be in that light once again, for everything to makes sense again._

_ A promise… yes, there was a promise made to him… but what was it? It had something to do with guarding something, making sure that no one came close enough to… to…. to what? Oh the endless questions would drive him mad, only to have haunting memories come at him about living a happy life with a wife and children. He wanted that life! He wanted to be in the light! But all he was allowed to live was this endless darkness that dangled the light before him as though teasing him. A vessel… yes a vessel, or a prison! That was it! He was in a prison! But how did he get here? Did he die? What was his crime? So many things going through his mind and he just wanted it all to stop! To make sense again! _

_"Please! Someone, anyone! Release me from all this torment!" _The sound of that voice woke Helen with a start, making her skin tingle as goose bumps formed down her arms: where had that voice come from? Carefully she got up so as not to disturb Olsen, walking out of their temporary house in Edelstein into the night air, teleporting to the roof where the light evening breeze caught her long hair, holding it away from her slightly.

"Did you hear it as well?" A cold voice asked. Quickly Helen turned around with a plasma bolt fizzing in her hand when she saw that it was Luminous, his eyes appearing to glow in the presence of the cool light the moon offered.

"I doubt that she didn't." Dureau growled as he appeared between the two of them, the markings on his face also glowing slightly while the Agies on his arm gave the area a strange violet glow.

"I canst not be sure. In mine dreams I heard one voice calling for redemption, to hast said life ended." Luminous nodded as he stood, aimlessly tipping his staff in his hand back and forth.

"That's the voice I heard. But I've only been hearing it when I come around Edelstein. Is there something that you aren't telling Helen? Could there be something that you six left unfinished 18 years ago?" Luminous asked, turning to her with a concerned look o his face while Helen closed her eyes and looked to the moon.

"For all that was done, thither is nothing coming to mine thoughts. I shall investigate these voices on the marrow."

"You're forgetting, mage. It _is_ tomorrow." Luminous growled as dark power flared around his body.

"At first light then; doth that satisfy thee?" Helen asked with a hint of mockery in her voice. Luminous clenched his jaw as the glow in around him and his eyes faded, giving way to his naturally blue eyes instead.

"You humans never cease to amaze me at how you can get on each other's nerves." Dureau commented, watching the two of them for a moment as they stared at each other before Helen smirked and teleported away.

"It's a trait that we pick up along the way." Luminous replied, sitting back down and setting his staff before him, looking as though he were meditating on something.

"What are you doing? You've never needed to meditate before." Dureau commented, looking back for a moment just as he was about to take off.

"It's something that Ephenia said." Luminous replied agitatedly, opening his eyes only enough to see where Dureau was.

"Ephenia? That wretched harpy is still alive after all these years?" Dureau asked with sharp tone of distaste.

"You've heard of her then?" Luminous answered.

"Heard of her? I watched as that pathetic female tried to unsuccessfully seduce the Black Mage. And all she ever got from him was your master crystal, which I see you have wasted no time in mounting." Dureau pointed out, motioning towards the top of his staff.

"What was it that she said?" Dureau asked, suddenly interested now that the subject of an old flame of The Mage's had come up.

"She said that I needed to remember what life was like _before_ the Order of Light was created."

"Your life _before _its creation? Your great grandparents weren't even conceived then." Dureau said, folding his wings once again and turning back to face him, more interested now.

"I know, but as soon as she said that, an image of Minerva flashed through my mind; she was younger, and happier… much, much happier." Dureau raised an eyebrow, unsure of whether or not Luminous was losing his mind.

"And you know that it was her face for a fact?"

"I'll never forget her face: it was her alright, no mistake. Now stop bothering me, I need to concentrate." Luminous said agitatedly, closing his eyes once more and trying to think of his past; his joining of the Order of Light, his coronation, his first birthday, the day that he was found by the Emperor and Empress. As he thought, his thoughts became that of another that picked up from the same moment from before _as Minerva was skipping along the beach happily while he chased after her, he himself being just as happy as she appeared. _

_"Corus, what do you think we should call this place?" Minerva asked as he walked up to her and took her hand._

_"While I was looking through some of our old texts, I found the name of our master from Hestopholes. I was thinking to name it after him since he was the one that taught us most of the magic that we know."_

_"Ossyria; that has a nice ring to it." Minerva responded. Years passed by in mere moments until Luminous saw himself announcing the creation of the Order of Light after being chosen as the Light Spirit's Transcendence to further study the power of light._ And then as if he had been struck, Luminous was hurled back into the present, falling flat on his back. Was there something that he wasn't supposed to know?

* * *

_The entirety of her body hurt. Everything was in pain, and there was nothing she could do about it to stop the pain. There was no medicine that she could take, no person she could see to alleviate the pain. And the endless darkness that surrounded her was the thing that made her pain seem worse as the hours dragged on into endless cycles of pain and confusion. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was her husband? Oh how she wished the searing pain would just end! But every time she tried to find a way to stay some of the pain, it felt as though something would move and make her pain return twice as strong._

_"Please! Someone, anyone! Make it all stop! Make the pain stop!" _Firebolt sat up with a start, propping himself up with his elbows and looking around the area that he slept in when Monsoon stirred.

"What's wrong?" She asked, reaching her hand to her bow and readying to throw off the covers.

"I don't know, I thought I heard someone calling for help." Firebolt breathed, looking around their room. Monsoon listened to the night air for a moment for someone's voice, but heard nothing.

"Are you sure that you heard someone calling for help?" She asked as Firebolt shook his head and slumped back down on the bed.

"It was probably just a dream I was having." He rationalized, getting comfortable again to fall back asleep. Monsoon though sat up and listened to the night air, wondering if maybe it had something to do with the spell that Raknorok had taught her, which she had just reapplied again not too long ago. Was his body beginning to break down because of the applications?

"Irena? Are you alright sweetheart?" Firebolt asked, sitting up once again and putting his hands on her shoulders, massaging them before running his hands to her arms and kissing the top of her shoulder.

"Yes I'm fine. Why?" she asked, turning to him as he stared uneasily into her eyes, brushing away a tear with his thumb. She couldn't tell him why it was the spell had begun to break a second time, not now. But was she not telling him because she didn't want him to know? Or was it because that she thought in not telling him, she was convincing herself he really wasn't dying?

Firebolt sighed, gently kissing her forehead and was about to tell her something, when the streets of Edelstein were lit ablaze with a dull orange glow, making them leap from the covers and look out the window to see that the entire street was engulfed in a sea of flames. Quickly Monsoon gathered her bow, swinging it hard as she went out the door, sweeping up the flames into a funnel and then blowing it out of the town with another swing of her bow when Holocaust appeared in a swirl of flames.

"What happened?!" Holocaust asked.

"That's what I would like to know! The street just lit up in a bunch of flames all of a sudden!" Firebolt exclaimed when the sky was ignited again as a river of flames spewed through the night down to the ground, the light from it revealing a seven headed creature that had landed in the middle of the street.

"It's Zakuhm!" Jack shouted, having only time to grab his knucklers and strap them to his hands as his body flared with Ruby Crystal power before hurtling forward and hitting Zakuhm hard enough that he was sent flying back out of town. Jenny and Lillianne rushed past him with weapons in hand as they tried to get to him before he recovered only to be taken off guard when another wall of flames came at them. Jenny plucked her bow as a Spine Arrow made of emerald crystal power hummed into existence, tearing through the flames as it went giving Lillianne a path to run through.

However when she reached the other side, there was nothing there save for the evidence that Zakuhm had been there a moment before. A loud screech made her look up where he circled the city, all of his heads turning as though looking for something.

"He's after the Seals!" Shadow called, streaking past them all with Brilliance, Matthew and Olsen right behind him, trying to find a suitable position to mount an attack. With each passing moment, his actions began to seem less like he was looking for _something_ and more like he was looking for _someone_. Without warning the giant hydra dove from the skies, landing hard on one particular house, smashing it under foot then digging through the rubble as he smelled for something.

"That was Stan's house, the mayor of Henesys!" Shadow exclaimed while Zakuhm still searched the rubble for any sign of the body. From the air, a loud drone buzzed, making them all look to the sky to see a single jet of flames come careening down and slam into Zakuhm's head just as violet swirls descended and hit another of the heads hard enough that those on the ground could hear the bones crackle.

"Aw, come now, you didn't forget about me did you?" asked a familiar voice as Acer knelt down next to Shadow and took aim, the cannon over his shoulder roaring into a huge blast of flames and sound sending the shell careening into Zakuhm's shoulder.

"It's a good thing that we came back when we did." A female voice said as Brilliance turned to see that it was Starling. However the attacks that were lobed at Zakuhm did little to detour him as he grabbed the huge humanoid thing from his neck and threw it to the side, looking around himself and seeming to focus his attention on something moving out of town to the west, towards the plains where the Black Mage had been defeated. Out on the plains, the morning light was just beginning to illuminate the ground, revealing Yoshumari standing at the ready with his Nalcana blazing, taking on the form of a large sword.

"Where is the human that I seek?!" Zakuhm growled as he skidded to a stop, surrounding Yoshumari with all of his heads.

"You'll only find him over my dead body!" Yoshumari shouted.

"That can be arranged." Zakuhm grinned, quickly pinning him to the ground under foot, gliding his head towards him once again as flames brewed in three of the head's throats. Dumia came rushing in as fast as her mech could run, drawing back her fist to hit his leg when she was flung off to the side by his tail, crashing into a pile of old rock rubble. One of the heads turned to her, belching out a barrage of flames at her, melting the ground into a sheet of glass before engulfing the entirety of the rocks, reducing them to molten slag.

"You should really be more careful Dumia!" Holocaust scolded after she and Helen had teleported the mech away from the line of fire. Another of Zakuhm's head's began looking around, its nostrils flaring when it grinned and caught the attention of the other heads, bringing their attention to a group of bushes just off to the side.

"I see, very clever Seraphim. But it is in vain." Turning all his heads to the shrubs, Zakuhm unleashed a wall of flames so hot that they could be felt from the far end of town, burning away the bushes before they even touched them. But when Zakuhm had finished, thinking that he had destroyed the human he was shocked to see that instead Vondra crouched before him with her Crimson Gaia protecting them and diverting the flames off to the side. Zakuhm readied to breathe another deadly volley of flames when he chest felt the sting of a hard hit as Patricia, Jack, Dureau and Matthew all hit him hard, pushing him off Yoshumari and almost twenty yards away.

Patricia swung her wand around, slapping the top of it to her palm as a dark aura began to swirl around her legs, kicking up a small cloud of dust. As the winds around her intensified her hair was gathered up behind her, floating amid the air current when pitch black wings burst from her back, spreading nearly thirty feet. For a few moments, she did nothing as the feathers looked to be gathering energy, pulsing up into the arms of the wings and into her body making her hair take on a dark red color, growling as she mixed a small bit of the Amethyst Crystal's power into her own. Across the way, Helen could be seen lifting into the air as her hair and eyes both radiated with Amethyst Crystal power before shooting into the sky where portals of bright light began to open.

Patricia began to hover from the ground as well, dropping back down hard as her power slithered through the ground towards Zakuhm where it erupted in fountains of dark violet energy, lifting his body from the ground just as Helen's Genesis Light rained down on him and slammed him back down into the ground hard. The impact threw dirt and dust into the air hiding away Zakuhm from everyone's view allowing all of them to relax slightly when Zakuhm didn't attack again after nearly a minute. Jack sleepily pulled the Knucklers from his hands, shivering from the cool of the morning air just as the sun began to peek over the horizon.

"What made you guys come back? I thought you were still dealing with the portals?" he asked after walking up to Patricia and Vondra.

"Starling and Yoshumari had recruited some adventurers we met in Ariant after the priest with them thankfully healed our wounds from our fight, sending them to deal with a portal in Mu Lung, which seems to be causing problems for the trainees of the Dojo." Vondra answered.

"For their safety I pray they were of high rank?" Helen asked after the adrenalin high of the Genesis summoning had worn off.

"Yes, I made sure of that. I think only one of them was about a 194 rank, but very powerful." Patricia added when a sound made them all turn to see Zakuhm's tail come soaring overhead aimed for Stan. Jack turned to react, opening his Mana Gates as he flared with a red glow into his Hyper form, but it wasn't enough as the hydra's tail drove through Stan's chest and into the ground behind him.

"Never assume a Chaos beast is dead until there is nothing left!" Zakuhm hissed, raising its heads form the ground once more, some of them missing more flesh then previously, spreading his huge wings wide. Matthew and Lillianne rushed forward to attack, but skidded to a stop when Zakuhm held Stan's body before them and flung him at their feet in a lifeless pile of blood and flesh as he took off in a Hurricane of winds.

"DUMIA! THROW ME AT HIM!" Matthew shouted, as Dumia ran over and hurled him towards the Hydra as hard as she could. Zakuhm looked back with his main head, watching as Matthew was hurled at him and disgorged a plume a flames at him which were reduced to embers when Matthew hurled a shockwave at it, hitting Zakuhm with enough force to knock him off balance and he flew. No sooner had that happened then a spear lodged itself in his skin as Matthew used his Creature Reel to pull himself onto his body.

Zakuhm rolled over in mid air, reaching up the longest of his necks to him only to have a blazing red Solar Scythe cut through his jaws and necks. For a brief moment, Zakuhm's heads looked on while Matthew raised the Pyrope Rhoen high above his head as light gathered at the hilt, making the blade ring with an ear piercing note before swinging down so hard that the blade passed clean through his chest.

When the moment passed, Zakuhm found himself being hurled at hyper sonic speeds back down through the air, hitting the ocean water so hard that bits of flesh separated from his bones turning the water a sickening brown color before it gathered back together and launched into the air. Helen teleported Matthew back down to the ground before he fell, bringing him back to the site where Stan's son Alex was being held by some of the other people that had known the mayor

"Where's my dad?! Where is he?" Alex screamed, trying to press through then crowd as they tried to hold him back and hide Stan's body from him.

"Alex you don't want to go over there!"

"LET ME GO! LET ME THROUGH!"

"NO! You don't want to…" but the person trying to speak was silenced when Alex slammed his fist into his face, knocking him out of the way and pushing away the crowd around Stan, only to turn around and find a secluded place where his heart turning wrenching could be heard after seeing what was left of his father's body.

"Guardians, our training begins now." Olsen growled as the grip on his dagger became so hard that the handle sounded as if it would break when he turned and stomped back to town: Stan's needless death ignited the fire within the Guardians that burned before the Black Mage was defeated, and this time there would be nothing that was going to put it out… nothing.

* * *

_Where was mommy? That was the one question that plagued his mind over and over again… find mommy… where's mommy… I need to find mommy. The dark scared him to death, but there was nothing that he could do about it to quell the fear, and there was no one there that would comfort him and make all the bad things go away. _

_Every time he tried to speak, there would be no sound that would come out, no words that he could speak leaving all his cries unheard and unspoken. And pain, an endless deep pain that would not stop no matter what he did: mommy… where was mommy? Mommy could make everything better! She could kiss the hurt away with her healing touch._

_"HELP ME!"_ Nathan woke with a jerk of his head, looking over to the picture of his and Aeris' wedding when the Black Mage had been defeated. Aeris had been called the Minar Forest to train with Samuel for the next few days, but right now he could really use her presence because that dream had him worried: what did it mean? Perhaps Master Helen or Holocaust would have an answer that would explain to him if this dream he had was just that, or perhaps something more. However he was disappointed when he found that Helen was busy training off somewhere in the back areas of the town.

"What did you need?" Holocaust asked, offering her own assistance.

"Well, I just had a weird dream this morning and want to know if she could offer something about it." Nathan answered. Holocaust raised an eyebrow, thinking back to when Firebolt as well as Luminous, Helen and Dureau all said they had some strange dreams.

"What exactly happened in your dream?" She asked, taking Nathan by surprise in her sudden interest.

"It was… it was as if I was someone else, just with all these thoughts running through my head about a certain something, this constant pain and I just wanted it all to end, asking for help from no one in particular. Why do you ask?"

"You are the fifth person to say they've had a strange dream this morning. Helen, Luminous, Firebolt and Dureau also said that they had some strange dreams very similar to yours." Nathan lowered his brow, putting his hand over his mouth as he thought it.

"Why would we be the only five though to have that dream? What's so special about us?" Holocaust was about to try and answer his question when someone in the street came over to them saying that there was a group of strange, horrible smelling machines that were walking down the road, attacking anyone who tried to get close to them. Nathan ran back to his room and grabbed his spear meeting Holocaust as they came down the road where the machines were walking, stuttering out something that sounded like a plea for help. Dureau landed behind them soon joined by Acer as they stood at the end of the street, watching the android-like machines walk towards them.

"These look like the one I destroyed the other day." Dureau mumbled, grabbing his mace and quickly flying around them in a blur, reducing the machines to nothing more than spare parts when reeking, black goo squeezed from inside the machines. Nathan and Holocaust did the best they could to not lose their breakfast while the sound of a voice, clear and confident, spoke in their minds.

"_Thank you for freeing me from that horrible prison. But there are still others that need your help. Please, free them from their prison that the Black Mage put them all in._" But even the thanks that came from them couldn't overpower the stench that wafted up from the machines.

"Augh! What in Ossyria is that smell?! It's like rotting meat!" Acer shouted, doing his best to suppress the need to throw up.

"That is decomposed mana: It been used beyond its natural life as a hydraulic fluid, and decomposes just and any other natural substance in the world." Dureau answered, standing over the machine as more of the black slime oozed from the machine next to his foot.

"So you mean to say there are more of these things?"

"I don't know Acer. But there is something that wasn't taken care of after The Mage was defeated 18 years ago, and now it's coming back for reconciliation. The first Machine that I took care of said something about mana tanks outside of the mines." Dureau said with a cruel tone, turning his eyes back to Holocaust for an explanation.

"Tell me fire mage, would you know what it is that was left unfinished all those years ago?" Holocaust's eyes darted back and forth as she thought of all the things that had happened when a voice broke her thoughts making them all jump.

"The Mana Refining Tanks outside of the Verne Mines." Holocaust and Nathan turned to see Vita, the girl rescued by Van while they were only children from the giant plant used to refine mana The Black Mage pulled from the ground into a usable substance.

"When The Mage was still in power, his lead scientist Gelimer was in charge of 'breaking' everyone, putting them into a vegetative state so that the Mana would be refined quickly and unencumbered." Vita explained.

"But why were people needed for this? What purpose did it serve?" Acer asked, feeling a bit unsure of what she was talking about.

"Mana in its purest form will become rancid and unusable very quickly without the presence of a life force. The mana that The Mage has drained from the ground was too unstable to be used by him, and so used the people whom Gelimer had broken to refine and stabilize the mana when it came in contact with their life force, also keeping it fresh as it passed though their body."

"Then what's the problem?" Dureau asked coldly as Vita bit her lower lip, trying not to cry as the experiences from her own life left her on the verge of her own mind breaking.

"Once their minds have broken and an outside source of mana has come in contact with their life force, they will forever need to be surrounded by mana or else they will die. If there was a way to wake them back up, put their minds back together so to speak, then we could save them. But I doubt that we could save any of these people since they have been saturated in mana for so many years."

"So, if I hear you right, you're saying that we are going to go find thousands of people and just kill them?" Acer asked, setting down his cannon with a hard thud.

"When you say it that way, then it doesn't sound so merciful." Holocaust answered, making a somber mood fall over them all when another machine stumbled onto the road from between the buildings, swinging its arms and talking with a stuttering computer voice until a second robot appeared, this one seeming to be in much better condition punching through the heart of the first one and crushing the small power core inside it.

"I'm sorry to have startled you, I was hoping that I could catch the others before they reached the town, but I see that I wasn't able to get here in time. Thank you for providing them with a release." The robot said and was about to leave when Dureau walked forward and clamped down a hand on his shoulder, whirling him around.

"What are you talking about; what release?" Dureau asked angrily. The robot sounded like it sighed before beginning an explanation.

"As I'm sure that you heard in your minds, those robots thanked you for releasing them, a mercy killing so to speak. I have been steadily working on such a mission myself, grave through it may be."

"Why would that be? I thought the only machines that ever had that kind of sentience were the ones in Magatia?" Holocaust asked.

"These machines are really receptacles for the minds of the people still within the Mana Tanks." The robot explained. Nathan backed up slightly, eyeing the machine untrustingly.

"Vita here said that these people were only broken, having their mind shattered so they could be used to stabilize and refine mana."

"While that may have been true for the first few dozen people, Gelimer found that it was taking too long to break each individual person, so instead he used the research recovered by the Black Mage from Dr. De-Lang and transferred the mind of the people into these rude, human-like machines, making their bodies instantly usable. However the thing that he didn't count on was the fact that the minds of the people would be thrown in chaos, wanting to be back in their own body making the machines become violent leaving the only option to destroy them." the robot appeared to have taken on a sad expression, sighing a bit before continuing.

"This led to another problem for the Black Wings; when the machine was destroyed, the body in the tank died making it unusable; so all of the machines were then rounded up and locked away. I haven't been able to find where they hid them all, but I have been taking care of the machines as they appear." Nathan nodded sadly: this is what Vita would have become had Van not found her when he did. Perhaps then the only way to save these people was to kill them; all of them.

"And how do you know all of this? How can we trust that you are doing what it is you say you are?" Acer demanded, reaching back for his cannon just in case.

"Because I was one of the first to be tested for this process; however the experiment didn't go as planned and my entire being was transferred into this machine body, Life Force and all. I've heard their voices which you no doubt can hear as well if you weren't here to give them release." The robot said sadly, turning to go when Nathan called to him.

"Wait, there are only e few of use that can actually hear them, and even then it's only in our dreams."

"You mean that not all of you can hear it?" The robot asked, Holocaust and Acer shaking their heads.

"That _is_ strange." The robot continued, scratching its metallic head.

"It's not completely unexplainable though." Luminous answered as he walked up to the group.

"The way this mind switching was done used black magic to power the reaction. Dureau received power from the Black Mage and I was infected with his power. Perhaps the residual effect of that would explain why we can hear them, but it doesn't explain you or the Chief Knight Firebolt." Luminous said, pointing his staff at Nathan who nodded and offered an explanation.

"Not long before the fall of the Black Mage, I was taken captive by him when the dimension housing the Crimson Forest, Red Keep and the Specter Wood collapsed after Helen activated a powerful spell to do so. Maybe my time while I was captured exposed me to enough Black Magic to make this possible."

"I remember that: wasn't Helen tainted by Black Magic for some time back then?" Holocaust asked.

"Yes she was." Nathan responded, shivering slightly from the remembrance of the experience.

"Then that's the connection; you all were exposed to Black Magic on a higher level than most, and that residual effect is allowing you to hear their calls." The robot added.

"But what about Firebolt? I don't remember him ever being effect by Black Magic." Nathan continued, trying to think of where he could have been hit or at least exposed to it.

"I any case though, we should deal with this as soon as we can; there are people suffering and we don't need to drag it out any long than it already has." Holocaust said somberly. Nathan and Acer both nodded their understanding as Acer went back to his work bench and began crafting an explosive that could deal with the no doubt thousands that were still being held within those tanks.

"_You're doing them a favor._" Was the only thought in his mind that enabled him to work on the bomb. Luminous, despite being somewhat saddened by what needed to be done, retreated to the roof top he had been on earlier that morning and again tried to delve deep into his own mind to find out what it was that he had seen before. It took a while, but his heart rate slowed and his mind cleared, allowing him to _see the inside of the newly created Oder of Light, other mages waking around and studying from massive texts or scrolls. On one side of the room looked to be a person glowing with a golden light, periodically walking around the room talking to some of the mages until he came to him._

_"I must say Corus, you've done a very fine job instructing these mages in the ways of the Light."_

_"Thank you Avner. I do try my best as your transcendence to do you justice." He replied, at which Avner nodded his thanks before saying his goodbyes and leaving in a wink of light. For many years, he trained hundreds of Mages to wield the power of light focused through five crystals on a staff that each mage was given as s symbol of their completed training. _

_"Grand Master Corus, may I ask you something?" a young mage asked him one day._

_"Certainly." He grinned, kneeling down to the child's level so as not to seem so overly intimidating._

_"Why does the power of light need to be channeled through the Aurora Crystals? Isn't it already powerful? And how is this light different from the sacred light used by the other mages?" Corus smiled, thinking back to his own experiences when he has first become the Transcendence and asked the very same question of Avner._

_"You see, the power of light has many different streams of power within it, much like a rainbow. On their own, this power does not have the same intensity as using them all together at once. When we focus our magic through the Aurora crystals, those streams are gathered together at a single point for us, otherwise we would be using so much power to try and focus the light ourselves, we'd have nothing left to actually use the power. Sacred Light on the other hand does not have the 'rainbow' properties of normal light; Sacred Light is alive, and needs no focusing." The young boy smiled and nodded as he ran off to his master where he could be heard telling the master in an excited voice of what he just learned. Corus sighed, feeling a bit tired from the day's lessons when he felt Minerva's arms around his chest in a loving squeeze._

_"Don't you think you should retire for the night? It's late and you've been awake since first light." Minerva stated, leaning her head against his back._

_"I would, except that I'm needed here should any of the students or masters have any questions." Corus responded wearily. Minerva could be heard laughing under her breath as she walked around before him, adjusting her wings slightly making a light golden dust fall from them to the ground._

_"Put some trust in those that you have instructed my love. You need your rest; otherwise the Transcendence of Light will no longer be able to perform his duties." Minerva smiled. Corus reluctantly agreed, telling one of the senior mages that he would be retiring. But his reluctance turned to bliss as he lay down on the soft down bed within the Palace of Ereve and Minerva lay down beside him, laying more across his chest than on the bed itself. Hours passed like minutes until the night was split by a thunderous roar as what appeared to be a portal opened just outside the palace where a man dressed in a red hooded cloak began stepping from the light, a heartfelt cry coming from within the portal._

_"DARUMOA YOU COWARD!" The man then turned to the portal, and sounded as if her were laughing._

_"You don't know the meaning of the word frail…" but his sentence was cut short when a barrage of light-like projectiles fired through his body, followed by a single large blast, finally ending with the thundering flutter of flames coming at him in arcs when the portal closed in a clap of thunder. When the last of the flames died away, Corus leapt from the balcony and teleported to the man, assessing his wounds and beginning to heal them. But something was wrong: when he tried to heal them, they wouldn't fully heal even when Corus used every bit of power he could muster._

_"_Perhaps it is from the strange aura coming from this man._" Corus thought._

_"I see, so this is what you were." The man said as he struggled to sit up._

_"What do you mean? Have we met before?" Corus asked as the man paused for a moment and looked at him before shaking his head._

_"No. Tell me, what power do you wield?" the man asked, his voice sounding deep and untrustworthy._

_"Don't speak right now; your wounds are still pretty fresh. Until I can dispel this aura I doubt your wounds will heal well, let alone completely." The man then reached out and grabbed Corus by the collar and pulled him close._

_"Tell me what power you wield!" he hissed. Corus was taken aback as he pried the man's hand away from him, shivering a bit when he touched him; the power within this man was pure evil._

_"I am a Mage of Light, Grand Master of…_

_"…The Order of Light." The man finished, leaning his head back against the wall he had been thrown against._

_"Who are you and how do you know so much about who I am? You say we've never met, yet you seem as though you know me more than you're letting on." Corus asked as the man looked up and chuckled._

_"I am Darumoa, and I know far more that you could ever imagine. Tell me, in your travels through the worlds, how much of the power you've learned have you actually used?"_ As before, Luminous was suddenly thrown back into his own mind, feeling more lost than ever: nothing in historical records, or even Minerva ever said anything about this visitor, and these memories were from long before he was even born! So how could he have the memories?! What did it all mean?!

* * *

Alice had been trying to find a way for escape, but each thing that she thought of would be quickly dashed: while her power was much greater here, there was no way for her to break the shackles that were holding her. And even if she could, there were the creatures that were set to guard her. She could defeat at least one of them, but they all seemed to be able to work together despite their seeming dysfunctionality.

"I'm Bored!" a chorus a child's voice said, which Alice had come to learn was the one named Pierre.

"You'll just have to live with it." Another voice clucked, the one that was named Von Bon. Pierre suddenly sounded excited as he spoke, the bells on his suit jingling as it sounded as if he were jumping up and down.

"I know, I know! _She_ could tell us a story!" The ground shook with a terrible violence as what Alice guess to be the leader of this group burst from the rocks, his snake like body curling up below him as he spoke in a forced, growling whisper.

"You will do no such thing, Pierre. We were told to guard her, not to ask her to become our nanny! What would the master say if he were to hear about what you have done?"

"Who cares Vellum! I'm bored!"

"Your boredom will soon be quelled dear Pierre." A female voice cooed as Alice watched the giant of a women walk into the area, crossing her long and lanky arms before her.

"And where have you been Chani? You may have the title of Crimson Queen, but that does not excuse you from disobeying my orders." Vellum hissed, slithering up to her.

"I have been further up, and I think that those calling themselves 'The Guardians' are preparing to mount an attack on the Abyss and rescue their dearly missed Transcendence." Alice's breath caught in her throat: she remembered the prophecy that Minerva had made just after Corus had been sealed within the Cave of Life after the fall of the Shenenien Empire.

"'_Those that lead the weak shall leave for a time, to protect and to hide the Ancient Powers forged by her. Five children shall be the sword to cut evil asunder and deal a mighty blow. But they must be vigilant so when the time is near, the power of those blessed with their power will show itself as a sign that the final battle is nearing fruition._'" Could it really be that those children had come? Could it be that the terror of the Black Mage was soon to be over? She could hardly contain her excitement until she heard the words of Chani tearing through her hopes.

"…are nothing more than mere humans. Besides, I hear that there is a new power that has taken root created by the Black Mage himself."

"The master defeated? Impossible!" Vellem answered, rising up to meet Chani's gaze.

"No it's true! I've see it with my own eyes. And from rumors that I've heard, she's managed to tap into some weapon created by Minerva. I hear a lot of people died already." Chani said with an almost happy giggle. Alice felt as if she would faint: The World Cannon was something that she herself helped Minerva build, and now a creature of the Black Mage had it under their control?

"_Please Guardians, Hurry!_"

* * *

Vita and Van volunteered to guide them to the facility where the others had been kept all these years: Vita hoped that she would never, ever have to come back to this place. But there were so many people there who had suffered just as she no doubt would have if she hadn't escaped. Just as they remembered, there was a crag in the rocks not far the entrance of the Verne Mines, quickly blown open by Dureau and Acer. Just as Van remembered, there were tubes of liquid running down hill, but this time the sound wasn't as free or as fluid as before: in fact is sounded almost similar to the slurry lines coming from the mines full of silt and bits of rock.

They walked for a few yards until the cave opened up into the old control panel covered in dust and partially broken down. But as soon as Vita touched the consol, screens fluttered to life and the sound of computers humming to life whined in their ears, when one screen flashed a bright red sign across it making them all have to cover their faces: Vital Signs Low. Van looked around a bit, finding the old switch of the lights and threw it: lights came on in a cascading manner, revealing to them the thousands of lines and tanks which were no longer a the bright blue, but instead was a thick black, streaked with lines of grey as it slowly moved through the tanks.

"By the word of Minerva: _this_ is what Van saved you from?" Acer asked with a breathless tone.

"Yes; this would have been my fate had Van not saved me."Angrily Acer grabbed the cannon from over his shoulder and fired at the nearest tank, shattering the already fragile glass making the thick glop spill out as though it were molasses, revealing what remained of the half rotted human still alive inside. Most of its skin was gone as were some of its internal organs, all of which having rotted away in to the thick glop. The only things remaining that even resembled a human were its heart and one lung. When enough of the goo had drained away, the body slumped out of the clamps, its arms pulling from their shoulder sockets and falling to the ground.

"Why wasn't this taken care of sooner?!" Acer asked with a growl as mana gathered in the cannon and fired a huge beam of energy that obliterated and incinerated everything where he had initially fired before.

"Vita and I told the High Guard of it back then, but everyone was so busy with trying to stop that Mage that they must have forgotten." Van answered making Acer shake his head and sigh shakily; no one should ever be exposed to this kind of torture. Even if they could wake these people up, their bodies were in no condition to even be alive. With a heavy heart, they all went to the edge of the consol's platform, descending a ladder onto the many pipelines that converged to a single adapter running into the mountain, no doubt feeding directly into The Mage's castle. While Acer set the charge, Dureau looked around at the many black tanks that surrounded them, closing his eyes slowly when Mastema jumped up onto his shoulder who had joined them on their way out, and thought she saw a small tear clinging to the corner of his eye.

"Are you…"

"So many lives." Dureau muttered under his breath as memories of his mother and younger brother came back to him: maybe he had been exposed to these humans and their way of life for too long, but his emotions were getting the better of him. There were mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, entire families that had been torn apart by the Black Mage, and for what?!

"Alright, the charge is set to go off in five minutes. Let's go." Acer said, his words sounding hallow as they left in the echo of the room. But when they reached to top, the five of them found they were surrounded by robots, all of them having the same stench from before, jerkily moving as they tracked their every move.

"Now what?" Van asked, moving to shield Vita from them when Acer stood straight and put the cannon on his back.

"What are you doing?!" Dureau hissed, still having his mace ready when one of the machines walked forward and looked Acer in the eye before sounding as if it were speaking with its last ounce of life left in its body.

"Th-th-th-th-thank-k-k-k… you." Acer nodded, sniffling slightly as he led their group through the gathering and out of the cave, quickly finding cover behind and old rusted mining machine until the explosive they brought detonated. The shaking was hard enough that the small pebbles around them skipped and shuddered while the roof collapsed onto the facility, crushing everything there until some of the generators within exploded as well. Suddenly a multitude of voices roared through Dureau's head, so much so that it gave him great pain, but at the same time, the feeling of those voices was thankful, calming even as they all thanked him for releasing them from the torture they had endured for over 18 years.

"Thank you Acer, I know it was hard, but those people have suffered enough. I thought that maybe after all this time we could have still revived them, but after seeing that one person…"

"It's alright Vita, it was the only thing that we could have done." Van said hugging her close. As they left, Dureau and Mastema stayed at the rim of the crater where the facility had once been, the stench of rotten mana faintly wafting over the dust and rock. Again, Mastema noticed that there was a small tear on the corner of his eye as he stood there looking down on the rubble.

"I've spent my entire life around these humans, and never once have I been effected by their emotions. Why now after all this time, must I be reduced to shedding tears for people that I never knew?" He growled when Mastema transformed into her human form, turning him to her and putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Human emotions aren't all bad Dureau. And feeling sorrow for those who have been put under The Mage's torture is not weakness, it is respect." Dureau locked gazes with her for a moment, nodding slightly, even though his demon pride wouldn't let him express himself as others would.

"Are you thinking of your mother and brother?" Mastema asked, moving closer to him and putting her arms around him.

"Seeing this, it makes me wonder if The Mage truly had them killed, or used them as fodder for his own plans; it makes me think that he did indeed use them. I knew the Mage of heartless, but this is even worse than the Queen of Khyune." Dureau growled.

"We will end the Black Mage Dureau; that you can count on." Mastema said in a low voice. Slowly Dureau nodded to her words, leaning down and putting his arms around her firmly, catching Mastema off guard.

"Thanks to your strength, Mastema." He whispered, gently kissing the side of her neck and walking back towards town leaving Mastema stunned: did he really just do what she thought he did? She felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she reached up and touched the spot he had kissed, closing her eyes and placing a hand over her heart; perhaps he was beginning to see her as she saw him after all.

"Mastema, are you coming?" Dureau asked.

"Yes, yes I am." she called, running to catch up to him and putting her arms around his when she realized what it was that she was doing. But Dureau didn't seem to mind and so she put her arms around his slightly tighter as they walked back. Perhaps there was still some hope after all, subconsciously noticing that her human form was holding.

* * *

Luminous had taken the day to rest a bit before trying again to find out what those visions, or memories really were; he had so many questions that he needed answers to and all that he was able to find were more questions. Who was Darumoa? Why was he acting as though he and Minerva were married? It wasn't until noon that he was able to find some time alone in his own room, shutting the curtains and locking the door where he had placed a 'do not disturb' sign on the knob, just in case. Luminous slowed his breathing, letting the warmth of the room sink into his body as his heart slowed and he felt as if he were drifting into a dream, _finding that he was just coming out of the infirmary where he met Minerva. Not long before, she had hidden her younger sister Windharp away for her own safety from the people of Ossyria._

_"Corus, there you are. Where did this man come from? Has he said?" Minerva asked with a concerned tone._

_"No, all he's said ever since he appeared is that he knows me and has been asking me questions about the training that you and I went through before creating Ossyria." Minerva nodded her head understandingly, grabbing his hand and leading him away._

_"What's the matter love?" He asked, placing his hand over hers and interlocking his fingers with her._

_"It's Sharen III; I fear that giving him the Rubian as he asked was a mistake. The Northern forest has shown signs of dying, and a dark power has begun to arise: Black Magic."_

_"That human is using Black Magic?!" Corus was shocked; yes, Minerva and himself had both encountered it, but even with the small training they received from the master in the Parlithian Dimension, they themselves vowed they would never use it._

_"How did Sharen even find out about Black Magic? We haven't taught it to anyone." Minerva asked with a wistful tone in her voice._

_"I don't know Minerva. But I will gather my mages and I will try to quell this."_

_"No Corus, not yet; I still sense that there is a part of him that is wanting to control this and pull himself away from it."_

_"Minerva, if you don't act now, then this will become more than either of us can handle."_

_"Don't worry, I've taken precautions should that ever happen. But please, don't kill him." Corus huffed agitatedly, rocking his head to crack his neck._

_"Very well, we'll see how this plays out. But should it come to it, I will not hesitate." Minerva nodded her understanding as the two of them walked to lunch, a bit tense due to their previous conversation but pleasant none the less. Times like these were the only times when they could see each other, what with Corus being the Grandmaster of the Order of Light, and Minerva acting as the Ossyrian Queen there was very little time for the two of them. Corus additionally took on the responsibility of trying to permanently heal Darumoa's wounds, but no matter what he tried, the wounds would only open again, slowly beginning to fester as they became infected._

_"What in Ossyria did you get into that would cause these wounds to remain open?" Corus asked, after he had used a particularly powerful time reversal spell to try and heal the wound in his leg, making Darumoa chuckle under his breath._

_"You are too innocent for your own good Corus. Tell me, have you ever heard of Black Magic?" Corus looked to him with a suspicious glare, reading through his book of healing spells for something else that might work._

_"Yes I have. But I have vowed never to use it." He muttered, looking over the spell he had found which would trade Darumoa's wound onto something else, healing his own. Darumoa chuckled darkly._

_"Such piety provides you with a very incomplete view of the world. What I've come to hear is that you are the Transcendence of Light, are you not?"_

_"And what would you want to know about it?" Corus asked with a hiss, digging his knuckle into the leg wound making Darumoa twist and writhe in the momentary pain._

_"You have closed yourself off from a world of possibilities. Black Magic is fearful, yes, but there is a right way to learn it. With it, it will grant you the power to do anything."_

_"Don't speak to me of it anymore." Corus demanded, only making Darumoa chuckle._

_"You'll come to me soon enough."He replied smoothly, hissing through his teeth once again when Corus pressed his fingers onto the flesh around his wound. Weeks went by as Corus tried every spell he could think of, remember, or find to try and heal those wounds, quickly running out of time since the medicines they were giving him for the infections weren't doing anything._

_ On his duties end, Corus and Minerva were trying to quell peacefully the crisis with Sharen III. But with each passing day, his dark power only grew as more people, plants and animals were killed or twisted into unrecognizable beings. Both of them reluctantly studied what they had learned of Black Magic to try and counter it, even going so far as to use the Dark Crystal to help defeat him. Even the powerful and refined Light Magic of the Order was only a means to delay him as Sharen's power steadily grew._

_"If this continues Corus, we'll have to do as you suggested. I can't see any other way: he's even conjured a demon to protect The Rubian." Minerva wimpered, saddened that she would even consider salying one of her own children. Corus swallowed hard, pinching the bridge of his nose in reluctance to doing what Darumoa said he would._

_"There is one thing that I haven't tried yet; I came across it in my studies in the Order. It will take a bit of time though, so you are going to have to stand watch until I return."_

_"I have every faith in you my love." Minerva replied, giving him a quick kiss before he left, going to the infirmary room that held Darumoa and reluctantly went it._

_"I told you that you would come to me." he said expectantly, turning to Corus after setting down the book he had been reading._

_"Teach me." Darumoa grinned wide, beckoning him to come closer. _

_"In order to control Black Magic, you must first understand it. I want you to banish all thoughts from your Order, and think only of power." Another week went by as Corus slowly learned the powerful magic from Darumoa, making sure to keep his wits about him so that he wouldn't become a corrupted mage, which would no doubt happen if he were to focus entirely on it. To help keep track of how much Black Magic was prominent within him, he created a bracer with two different wings. But the progress he was making versus the danger that was growing from Sharen was minimal at best._

_"There must be a way for me to learn this faster!" Corus yelled. During that week, Darumoa's health had taken a far down turn, barley able to sit up on his own or breathe without the aid of the air purifying herb filters._

_"There is: you must stop thinking that this is just another power to control. It must become you!" Darumoa wheezed, hacking into a napkin for a good full minute before he was able to speak again._

_"All of your training has conditioned you into thinking that all power can be brought under your control eventually, that you and the power are separate. You must banish this thought from your mind, as well as your light."_

_"My… light?" Corus was confused; what light was he talking about?_

_"Yes, your light. The light of caring for others well being, the light that lets you decide what is right for the people of this world: the light that is preventing you from full control over Black Magic!" Darumoa hissed, before hacking into the napkin again, this time coughing up a spray of black blood._

_"I am learning this magic from you so that I can prevent anything else from happening to anyone! Why would I want to lose myself and become the very thing that I am trying to stop?" Corus argued._

_"Corus, my student; you won't lose yourself, you will free yourself. You will see things how they should and were always meant to be. You will be able to stop all the wars, all the hate, all the tears with the power that you will gain." Darumoa could see that his convincing seemed to only be further preventing the young man before him fully taking the last few steps to full control, and decided to take a different approach. Looking over to the counter where most of his medicines were, he saw an empty bottle and smiled._

_"Perhaps this will make it easier for you. That bottle there on the table; bring it to me." Corus did as he was asked, while Darumoa cast a spell on the bottle, making the glass turn and faint bluish color._

_"You can banish your light to this bottle, and once you have gained full control over Black Magic, you can always re-absorb it later." Corus still felt unsure since really, his light was the only thing that was standing between him and total loss. But if meant that he would be able to protect the people of Ossyria, then he could do it. Besides, Minerva was always one to try and seek out a non-violet way to resolve an issue first, rather than take the necessary steps to stop, even prevent some of their less glorious wars of Ossyria._

_"Alright." Corus agreed, stepping to the middle of the room and beginning the ritual, not seeing the small smirk on Darumoa's face. Light began seeping from Corus' body into his hands, gathering into one orb before snaking its way into the bottle and drawing the cork onto the top, sealing it tightly. For quite a while, Corus did nothing but stand with his arms and head drooping to the ground until he pulled his head up, opening his eyes while a reddish pink glow subsided in them._

_"Tell me Corus, how do you feel?" Darumoa asked. Corus snapped his attention to him and grinned darkly, holding up his hands as black flames came to life in them._

_"I feel terrific! Tell me what the next step is so that I can fully control this power!"_

_"Kill me, and in doing so, inherit all of my power! While I was alone here in the hospital, I was teaching Sharen how to use the Rubian to its fullest potential with the aid of Black Magic, and he ate it up like candy. He will soon be calling for me, and as such, you are now the one he will be seeking after, Corus."_

_"Corus is no longer my name, but I shall keep it for appearances sake." He laughed, holding his hand up to Darumoa while tossing the bottle of his light into the air with the other._

_"Then how about calling yourself 'The Black Mage'?" Darumoa asked knowingly. Corus grinned, catching the bottle one last time as the absorption spell around Darumoa began to initiate, slowly curling his hands inward to make a fist._

_"I would enjoy such a name." Corus responded, closing his hand tighter and tighter until power began pouring from Darumoa in streams, driving themselves into Corus body and when it was finished, Darumoa fell lifelessly back onto his bed allowing The Black Mage to simply cruise from the room uninhibited. After that, he tied the bottle around his neck and hid it under his shirt, driving Sharen on and nearly killing Minerva only to be sealed away in the Cave of Life for over three hundred years. But during that time, he practiced and perfected his Black Magic to the point that he no longer required most of his corporeal body, making one that was almost entirely made up of black aura. _

_His power kept on growing, until one day when he realized that his power could be that much greater if he didn't have his light around him all the time. He tried leaving it in his workshop at first and practiced for another seventy years, but even then his power felt restricted somehow. In a bout of anger and frustration, he then grabbed the bottle and hurled it as hard as he could, not knowing that the bottle had been thrown in the direction of Ereve where Emperor Casimir had just been crowned. There was a bright flash of light_ and then Luminous was thrown back into himself, only this time he was thrown against the wall hard, knocking over a table and breaking the small vase that held a single flower on it.

Rubbing his head, Luminous tried making sense of everything, suddenly realizing that he wasn't the actual son of Emperor Casimir and Empress Michiko. He was the total personification of The Black Mage's light! Thinking back on his own memories, he remembered the day that he was found. It was raining moderately, hearing soldiers come running towards him talking about a bright flash of light coming from the direction he was in. Moments later he remembered being carried into the castle in Ereve and instantly scooped up by Empress Michiko, rocking him lightly to stay his crying.

"It's no wonder then that I was infected with this darkness of the Black Mage's: I am a part of the Black Mage that he cast away!" Luminous shouted, able to now make sense of what Ephenia had warned him about.

_"'I would regulate the use of the Dark Magic you can use. Otherwise, you just may cease to exist.' Now it all makes sense. But The Mage is dead? How could I be reabsorbed?"_ he thought to himself.

"_Perhaps it has something to do with the one calling herself Clytemnestra. She was created by the Black Mage after all._" He would have thought on it further, but the experience of trying to remember some things his left him exhausted, climbing slowly onto his bed and quickly falling asleep, despite only being mid afternoon.

* * *

Claudine jerked her head up when Clytemnestra burst through the door, putting her hand on her hips as she walked to her.

"Oh my, it seems that you've killed another innocent person Claudine. Stan, the mayor of Henesys is dead, and all because you wouldn't give me the location of the Seals. Now, shall you or I be the one to pick another?" Claudine wearily picked her head up as tears formed in her eyes.

"Please, stop." She whispered somnolently.

"Oh I will, as soon as you tell me where the other seals are." Claudine hung her head, trying to reinforce her will against Clytemnestra's brute force attack on her.

"Fine, I will choose then." Clytemnestra said quickly, grabbing one of the two frosted glasses and picking up the small scrap of paper from within.

"Ah, this will cause a stir. I've chosen Shinsoo, the lucky 'sacred' feather dragon. Oh, isn't he bound to Ashura? That means she will die as well. Oh dear, such a tragedy." She said, igniting the paper on fire before walking out of the room and slamming the iron door behind her.

"Hilla."

"Yes master, I am here." She answered in a sultry voice.

"Tell Baroq that he is to seek out and kill Shinsoo, and to report to me when the deed is done." Hilla bowed to her, disappearing in a cloud of darkened mana while Clytemnestra was approached by one of the other servants she a recently recruited to rebuild the Black Wings forces.

"Your requested guest has arrived." He said. Clytemnestra smiled, walking quickly out into her throne room where a single person knelt to the ground before the apparatus. Clytemnestra sat down sensuously while the apparatus reached its arms around, glowing slightly and feeding power into her body from the tips that reached around.

"You summoned me, Lady Clytemnestra?" The man on the floor asked, turning his gaze up to meet hers.

"Yes, I did. I've summoned you here to warn you of something, Damian."


	18. Chapter 17: The Abyss

**Careful guys... this one's a monster! Don't forget to visit my profile for notes!**

Chapter 17: The Abyss

Olsen could be heard streaming through the back portions of the gardens as though he were a shadow, circling where the others were battling hard. Helen touched the pouch on her hip, creating a bubble of the new poison she had created; spreading it out in a cloud only to be burned away as Matthew came charging at her with his newly perfected Flames of Intrepid. Again he empowered the sword into flames, deflecting the huge spear and chain of ice that Helen had summoned into the ground. But just as he was about to attack, Matthew was forced to the defensive when Jack lunged at him with the blazing Corkscrew Times Two, slamming into the broad blade of the Pyrope Rhoen hard enough to make Matthew slide back, even with the Warrior's Stance engaged.

Once stopped, Jack reached for his pistol as mana wound around the entirety of the gun, feeding into the bullet cylinder and firing off a powerful mana rounds that Matthew managed to avoid. Jack and Matthew both had to jump clear when a glowing red Kunai struck the ground where they stood, exploding into large fireball, Olsen using their momentary broken concentration to hurl the two large shuriken where their head would be when they landed. But his attack was derailed when Jenny's arrows shot through the centers and stopped them dead, wings sprouting from her back while she and Alden leapt through the air, gathering winds into a ball before her that she then launched at Olsen and fired an arrow at it, causing the winds that had gathered to expand with hard force.

"We've been training for a solid week; I think that we've gotten a pretty good handle on these new abilities." Matthew called, swinging the Rohen over his shoulder and dropping it into the elegant sheath.

"Beware of thy Pride Matthew, for it shall lead thee unto ruin. But yes, we all have learned much in the preceding week." Helen smiled, teleporting back to where they were coming together as Jenny and Olsen did the same.

"Man, with these new Hyperion abilities, I think we could take down one of those Chaos beasts easily. Can you imagine what kind of power we'd have if we used Crystal Power?" Jack called out after jogging up to them from his position.

"Easy babe; we may have gotten a firm grip on these Hyperion abilities from Minerva's book of spells, but that doesn't mean we have the ability to control it that well yet." Jenny pointed out.

"I know, I know. But just think of it." Jack insisted, already thinking of the two new moves he learned for his Ultra Hyper fist form and what kind of power he would have in using his Ruby Crystal power instead of his mana.

"Hey, Captain Jack, wake up." Lillianne called, snapping her fingers before him. Jack made a face at her and laughed as she went to hug Matthew.

"Are you feeling any better?" Matthew asked, leaning over slightly and kissing the top on her head.

"I'm still pretty sore: it'll be a long time before I'll be able to use that move more than once during a battle and still have something left to stand with." Lillianne sighed, feeling somewhat left behind, reaching up and petting the head of her Life Binding dragon Talu. It used to be so different when they were teenagers: she was the one with all the power back then and knew that one day they would surpass her in power many times over. But it still hurt knowing that even now, she would never be able to compare to them, even if she was already more powerful than her father.

"Now tell me again; what's this move you've been doing?" Olsen asked as he grabbed Helen's hand and kissed the back of it.

"It's called the Blade's Strain. It allows me to use the spirit of the Phoenix and of the Tiger to enhance my strength and speed, finishing with a crushing final blow but at the cost of my body being over worked. If I try to use it again in a row right now, I will more than likely tear every muscle in my body and be rendered unable to fight ever again." She said sadly as Matthew put an arm around her sholders, kissing the middle of her head.

"Well if it was so dangerous then why did you insist on learning it?" Jenny asked, her voice sounding slightly sarcastic, but her face showing that she was genuinely curious.

"I just want to be able to remain on the same plane as you five is all." Lillianne said with a slight crack in her voice.

"Lillianne, thou hath nothing to prove. Thou art a Guardian, and to wit leaves no reason thou needst to strain thyself to such a degree." Helen soothed.

"Thanks Helen, really. But I just want to know that I'm not holding you back." Jack laughed slightly, slapping her on the shoulder.

"Never in a hundred years Lil. Now some of the students on the other hand, they could be a problem." Jack said with a laugh making everyone chuckle.

"Alright; let's get some rest and in the morning we'll see if we can't find this Alice and bring her back to the surface." Matthew suggested, thankfully joined by everyone else as they walked back to town, some of them sore, others simply feeling worn out from the training. In the shadows of the gardens stood two figures both wearing a white cloak hemmed in red, watching as they left.

"I always wondered why it was the Hyperion are now used as abilities for the masses." The first said, the cloak hood pulling back slightly, letting the sunlight fall on her young features.

"As you can see, the ancient records say it was because they needed to find a greater power." The man next to her said, adjusting his elegant sunglasses.

"Yes, but I always wanted to know the emotion behind it. The texts leave so much unsaid and unfelt." She answered, about to leave when something looked to be flying in from the sky, supported by his massive black wings and setting down a strawberry blond woman next to him. The woman in the shadows felt a stab of jealousy in her heart, a stirring that had not yet been reawakened until she saw Yoshumari once again.

"Eleanor?" the man asked, walking back to her and following her trail of sight to find out what it was that she was seeing.

"Eleanor, it's been over 18 years since that time. Look at him… he's even smiling now." The man said while Eleanor took a ragged breath.

"That still doesn't change the fact it still hurts Eldan. If I had survived, if that me hadn't been pulled into the time we are now, _I_ would be the one at his side, not her." she responded as her voice began to crack. Eldan could only sigh, thinking of his love Oberon and how he may never see her again, especially since the time line had changed and they never met.

"Come on, we have work to do." He said soothingly, putting his arm around her shoulders and bringing her reluctantly with him. However as Yoshumari walked away with The Guardians, there was something that tickled the back of his mind, making his turn around and look into the trees that surrounded them, but for what he couldn't tell.

"Something wrong?" Starling asked after pulling his arm over her shoulders, looking back to the trees to see if there was anything back there.

"No, its nothing." He smiled, pulling her close as he continued on.

* * *

"Now, I trust that you have been fully prepared for what is going to be coming?" Clytemnestra asked, as Damian nodded, reaching over his shoulder and drawing the enormous sword from over his back.

"I and my blade shall prevent any from taking Alice."

"Good. Vellum is the most powerful of the four, but I want you to remain hidden. Only show yourself if he should fail." Damian crossed a hand over his chest and stood, walking a short distance before taking off in a full sprint and disappearing into the dark.

"Who was that?" Hilla asked, sauntering into the room and setting down her staff while shifting her weight to one leg, relishing in the attention she was receiving from the few recruits that followed her every sensuous move.

"That was Damian, Dureau's younger brother." Clytemnestra hummed, making Hilla stand straight again and raise an eyebrow.

"_Younger_ brother? Wasn't he a human?" Hilla asked in surprise.

"Yes indeed, Hilla. But by absorbing a small portion of Black Magic and having him sealed within an eternal sleep spell, he has managed to retain his youth and fighting vitality."

"But why did you keep him around at all? He's a human, and normal humans can only endure so much before their body will begin to break down."

"I never fully understood it myself: I knew that Arkarium would break the vow I made with Dureau, so when he attacked the Minar forest, I decided that Damian should be pulled from his burned down house to serve as a contingency should someone come for Alice." Hilla nodded her head in understanding, flipping her hand pompously at the small group around her as though dismissing them.

"If you knew that Arkarium would break the vow you made with the Demon Slayer, then why did you allow it to happen?" Hilla asked. Clytemnestra turned her gaze to her, narrowing her eyes as a small grin spread across her dark lips.

"Hilla, I allowed Dureau the security to test his loyalty; I would have attacked the village nonetheless. Arkarium has always had a slight insecurity about his standing, and will use any means he sees fit to ensure his position, even if it means breaking a vow I made. Thus it allowed me to see where Dureau's loyalties _truly _lay." She said darkly, making Hilla shiver. She had her own dark and twisted path, but this level of betrayal to one's own General as a simple test was something that even she wouldn't wish on anyone.

"Master Clytemnestra." A voice called as a man appeared from the shadows, kneeling down at the foot of Clytemnestra's throne.

"Ah, my most capable of shadow knights Eckhart. What news do you bring?"

"Irena sends word that The Guardians have made landfall within Ellinia and are heading towards the Sleeping Wood." Clytemnestra grinned to one side, her dark eyes almost looking to flare with pinkish red power while whispers surrounded them for a few moments, dying away in the echoes of the throne room.

"Very good. Have Oz and Mihile standing at the ready, and inform me of when they enter."

* * *

Morning broke with the same promise as any other day: gold splashed across the skies as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon, finding 'The Guardians', Alden, Dureau and Mastema in her cat form carefully trekking from Ellinia to The Sleeping Wood, following the clues they had found about Alice living within the wood in the past. Luckily the warped creatures that patrolled the area were preoccupied with other matters of sleeping or eating and allowed them to slip into the large tree marking the entrance. Down, down, down the stairs they walked in ire silence since most of the people from this small town had been evacuated; only a few stubborn ones remained behind.

"Oh, hey there. What's going on up top?" a voice called which Jenny identified as the gentleman that ran the spa, saying hello in return before explaining why they were here.

"We've been asked to find someone by the name of Alice, the Transcendence of Life. From what we could find about her, it is said that she used to live here." The gentleman rubbed his chin on his open palm, recognition seeming to come to his eyes as he motioned for the others to follow.

"Just outside of town, there is a house that doesn't show up in any records. There are those that have gone to try and either rebuild it or tear it down but no matter who goes, there is always something that happens to prevent them from doing so. The strangest part about it is though, there is a giant hole in the back wall." Leading them to the edge of town, he then pointed to what appeared to be a small dot far below which once Jenny activated her Eye of Arrows could see that it was indeed a house. It took a while, but they all managed to walk down the winding path to the simple house that would go unnoticed if no one asked about it.

"Something of ill tidings hath indeed come here." Helen said, pushing open the door with her staff. Inside were fine but simple rugs and very medieval looking carved furniture, some seeming dangerous despite being nothing but cracked wood. Jack and Olsen searched through what appeared to be the living room, finding old photographs of a young woman with a mass of golden curls and various others.

"Who ever lived here defiantly lived a simple but exotic life." Olsen said as he put the picture back when Lillianne picked up the picture and looked at it closer, blowing the dust away from it and reading the elegant writing at the bottom.

"Alice Teawrite, Transcendence of Life. Guys! This is her!" she called as Jack came over and looked at the picture.

"Well she's defiantly cute, I'll give her that." He said, hearing Alden growl behind him with a bit of power swirling around his horn.

"What? I'm stating a fact you silly Celion." Lillianne only chuckled to herself, looking around at some of the other pictures that depicted her with Rhinne and a young man that she hadn't seen before, or playing with the children that used to live in the Sleeping Wood so many years ago.

"I believe I've found where she went." Dureau called, making them come quickly to the back of the house where a hole large enough for one of Horn Tail's head's to fit had been blown through.

"What happened here?" Matthew asked in a thoughtful voice when Alden and Mastema both began sniffing at the ground.

"It must have been something big enough to grab her; there are still small bits of blood here." Mastema said as Alden looked back to Jenny and wagged his tail slowly as though confirming what Mastema said.

"I thought the Transcendences were immortals?" Jack asked.

"They may be, but this proves that they aren't invincible. Is there more blood to follow Mastema?" Dureau asked as she sniffed around a bit before she and Alden leapt over the rubble, following the scent.

"There is, but it's faint." She called back, flipping her tail around as she waited for the others to decide what it was they were going to do.

"I don't think we'll need to rely on the scent." Olsen said, drawing the other's attention to the sides of where Mastema and Alden stood, pointing out that they were standing in a large trench the led a good deal away from them. With this new information they began following the trench, sometimes having to stop when it seemed to cross over itself and lead in a different direction, but eventually coming to what appeared to be a huge hollowed out tree stump, perhaps even larger than the World Maple Tree's trunk. With a hard punch from Jack to open part of the petrified bark, it revealed a giant hole leading far down into the ground where even Jenny and her Hyperion Arrow of Eyes couldn't see.

Without hesitation, Dureau jumped from the ledge with Mastema in his arms and tucked in his large wings, falling down into the abyssal dark below. The Guardians didn't see any other way of getting down and so they too jumped from the ledge, free falling into the darkness after Dureau not knowing how they would be able to land, assuming that they would even be able to see the bottom before their death. Time seemed to stretch on into ages as they fell, unable to see how far they had fallen when something blazed past Olsen's head.

"Matthew! Helen, can you give us some light?!" he called. Matthew's glory sword was lit ablaze with flames while Helen summoned a large fireball in her hands, revealing that they were falling past huge roots, more of which were crossing in a thicker pattern further down, bearing evidence of Dureau already having gone through them. Jenny plucked her bow, drawing back and arrow that was surrounded by winds and fired through the very center of the current wall of roots, making all of them quickly maneuver as best they could to fall through the hole. But as they fell further, more and more roots began to block their path, becoming thicker and more abundant as they went. Matthew drew the Rohen from over his back, launching a shock wave that blew through a few of the roots, followed by Jenny's bomb arrow which got them through the next wall of roots, only to make them face another blocking their way.

Olsen looked for the weakest spot, suddenly seeing that Dureau was still walking around the roots himself looking for a way down. With time quickly running out on whether they would crash into the roots and probably die or cut through them, Jack began concentrating his mana in his hands, creating a huge pointed object in his hands and hurling it down with as much force as he could muster. The missile cut through a few of the roots before detonating, blasting a big hole almost through the roots as some kind of light could be seen through the cracks. Olsen began hurling shuriken as fast as he could, each one exploding on contact while Matthew hurled buzzing red Solar Scythes as fast as he could, but their attacks only managed to crack the large roots.

Matthew pulled his arms to the side, falling even faster to pass Jenny before clenching his fists hard and holding his forearms parallel to his chest; golden light began gathering around him, quickly solidifying into gold trimmed armor on his upper body. Tucking his head in, Matthew hit the roots hard breaking through them, merely scratching the armor as is dissipated when Matthew dispelled it. As they still fell, all around them they could see what appeared to be a dark and twisted word, complete with clouds and a twilight-like sky. On the ground there appeared to be at least three different citadels, each one being of a different theme, and one giant gate on the side of a mountain. Below them, another giant stump like the one in the Sleeping Wood waited below them swallowing them in darkness as before, only this time just as the ground was beginning to rush up at them, a strong gust of wind blew through the trunk, slowing their fall until they were gently set down.

"Well, that was different." Matthew said, brushing the bits of dry root splinters out of his long hair when another gust of wind blew through the trunk, catching and setting down Dureau just as gently.

"Tellest me Matthew, what was said armor that surrounded thee?" Helen asked.

"That was one of the Hyperion abilities called Heaven's Armor. For a short time, or until I dispel it, I'm invincible. Though I still feel the knocks." He grunted, rubbing his neck when Jack looked around, throwing up his hands and dropping them back down to his sides.

"Ok, now what? We're in a huge tree trunk with no way to get out, and we're completely in the…" His sentence was cut off when torches flared to life all around them, spreading from where they were to the outside of the tree trunk where four huge doors were built, each one having heavy chains across them and secured by a gargantuan lock.

"Hello! Is someone there?" A female voice called. All of them turned their backs to each other and drew their weapons, power flaring hard around them as they stood ready to face whoever was there.

"Who are you?!" Matthew demanded as he took an aggressive stance, light gathering at the hilt of his sword readying to strike.

"Please, put down your weapons. I am not going to fight." The voice called. It sounded distant, as though it were coming from part of the trunk to their left; the voice was gentle, but at the same time sounded desperate. Jack and Lillianne carefully walked through the open space between them to where the voice had come, stopping every now and again to listen for anyone or anything that might come at them from the dark.

"You can relax, there is no one here." The voice called.

"That's all well and good, but I'd feel better if I kept my guard up." Lillianne called in return, slowly making their way to the side where they found an iron door bolted shut. From inside the sound of someone in shackles came towards them, the light revealing a women dressed in an elegant green corseted dress and a mass of blond curls.

"You… you're… You're Alice! We've been looking for you! Oh this makes everything easier!" Jack said excitedly, reaching for the bolt and pulling it unlocked.

"Are you The Guardians?" she asked.

"Yeah, we are. Just hang in there, we'll have you outta here in a jiffy." Jack and Lillianne both came in and began to try to unfasten her chains while the rest of them came over, watching carefully for any sign of enemies. Time and time again Jack slammed his hand into the anchors of the chains, but the harder he hit, the more it seemed that he was doing nothing; even his powerful Ruby Thunder punch did nothing except make the chains glow and absorb the energy released. In frustration he grabbed his pistol and blasted them with a burst of frigid air, freezing the links solid before breaking through it with a ground shaking punch, only breaking the ice away from the chain.

"What the…"

"It's the same for me. I have the ability to control and channel the power of life, and yet every time I try to use it, these chains drain it away." Alice explained. But Matthew refused to believe it coming in with his sword drawn blazing with ruby energy and swung as hard as he could, making a shock wave ripple through the cell before blowing out of the door and making all of the others fall forwards from the blast. Again the chains glowed brightly, absorbing the ruby power that had been thrust through the blade.

"I told you, these chains absorb all kinds of power, no matter how strong or how much, it is all absorbed." Alice explained again.

"There has to be a way of getting you out of those chains." Jack huffed, helping Jenny to her feet as Alden shook himself, getting the small pebbles out of his fur.

"If there is a way, I do not know it." Alice offered, slumping to the ground, defeated when she suddenly remembered something.

"There is one thing that could work." Getting up again, she began patting over her upper body, then reaching under her corset and pulling an old scroll out.

"This is a transport scroll I've always kept with me even after Mundus Arbor asked me to be his Transcendence. It was a gift from my father should I ever become lost. I don't know why I didn't think of it before!" she said excitedly, unrolling the golden yellow paper and laying it on the ground before putting both of her hands on it, pushing a tiny bit of mana into the page to activate the seal written on the page, avoiding the chain's draining ability. It was working, slowly beginning to envelope her in a veil of light when the chains glowed brightly and absorbed the light that surrounded her while the scroll burned out of existence. Alice hung her head and sighed heavily: even this tiny ray of hope had been stolen from her.

"How did you end up down here in anyway?" Jenny asked, coming over to her and looking at the shackles around her wrist, thinking that maybe there was a way of picking the locks.

"Before Corus had become the Black Mage, Minerva told me of The Sleeping Wood not long after I had been chosen as Mundus Arbor's Transcendence. I went there and discovered that I could feel Mundus' power so much stronger, and so moved my house to the one you no doubt found outside of town. When Minerva fought with Corus, I too helped in any way I could by healing the soldiers wounded by the forces of the Black Mage. I helped create the potion that ultimately led to her demise, but even her and her vast power was not ready to handle the mana that flooded her body. To keep her alive while she fought, I used the power entrusted to me by Mundus until she at last was struck down by The Mage. Before she stopped breathing, she managed to tell me of her plan, and I helped to split her being into five separate persons. But after that, I was drained: while Mundus power is nearly limitless, I am only its channel and can only sustain power of that caliber for so long, so I returned to the Sleeping Wood to regain my power more quickly. But that was a huge mistake: while I was still weak, a giant horned serpent broke into my house, accompanied by a man with bright red hair and dull grey skin, bringing me down to this place since I was too weak to fight back, let alone run. Just recently is when I have awakened." Jenny sighed, getting to her feet once again, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.

"Those shackles are one solid piece; there's no way to even get them over her hands." Jenny said with a hint of sarcasim. Helen walked into the cell, holding her hand over the chains as she sent a pulse of mana through them, feeling the power that flowed through them.

"This chain hath been intertwined with a seal. It can only be broken by finding the origin of said seal." Helen explained, looking over to the anchor closely when the ground began to shudder, causing the chains to clink against each other lightly. Those outside lowered their stance as those inside the cell came out, looking all around into the dark for what may come until the ground exploded before them as a giant serpent-like creature rose high above, hissing in the back of its throat with glowing white eyes, speaking in a forced, hissing growl.

"Foolish humans, you dare challenge the might of those in the Abyssal Labyrinth?!" it asked, lowering its head as the huge forward horns on his head pulsed backwards with flaming energy.

"Who are you?" Jack demanded, putting up his fists, glowing with ruby crystal energy.

"Jack, think your actions through first." Matthew commanded, but already he could see that his words were too late as the creature seemed to grin.

"I am one of the Seal Guardians chosen by _him, _and I will not allow you to defile his glorious campaign." It said, rising up again to his towering height, opening his mouth slightly while sweltering power boiled in the back of his throat, the vapors trailing toxic smoke from between his teeth.

"Are you the one who imprisoned Alice like this? Are you the one who put the chains on her?" Matthew called, hoping his more personable approach would get some useful information out of this giant creature.

"I am merely acting on _his_ will to ensure that she is kept in a secure place where she cannot further agitate _his _majesty." Movement caught the serpent's eye, making him turn to Dureau, gritting his teeth hard enough that they creaked and lowered his massive head to him.

"This traitor should know well why she is here and who it is that brought her here." The serpent hissed. Dureau grabbed his mace and swung, striking the serpent hard enough that its head jerked to the side. Its lips curled and it eyes narrowed, fixating on Dureau for a moment until Matthew began speaking again.

"You keep speaking of someone by saying '_his'._ Who are you speaking of? Is it the one with red hair and dull skin?" The serpent's attention was drawn to him while small holes in his body glowed as though power were welling up from deeper within his body, as he laughed.

"That _human_ is nothing more than a guardian puppet, a last resort should we fail, which will never happen."

"Then who is this person you keep referring to?!" Jack demanded. The serpent's eyes glowed brightly as his horns flared, light emanating from the holes in his body even faster while a glow built in his mouth.

"YOU DARE SPEAK OF HIM WITH SUCH LITTLE RESPECT?!" Vellum roared as a ball of energy shot from his mouth and slammed into them before any of them could react, driving them all to the ground. Helen and Matthew struggled to get up when Jenny shouted in pain, holding her left arm which was twisted at an unnatural angle. Helen quickly teleported to her, setting her arm despite Jenny's screams, and began to heal it, noticing that her own wrist was broken, healing it after she was sure that Jenny was healed.

"Leave this place and NEVER return. Your bringing a traitor of the Black Mage here is message enough for me." Vellum warned, pulling more of his body from the ground and curling it under him like a spring.

"We aren't leaving without Alice!" Jenny shouted, holding up her bow, but unable draw it from the pain still in her arm.

"Yes, you are. My patience is wearing thin, now leave!" Vellum growled, his horns glowing white hot, making a ring of flames roll down his body and across the floor, running up the sides of the trunk until it pulled away from it and solidified into spears of rock, raining down around them.

"Then we'll take her by force if that's what it takes!" Olsen called, standing straight as his hands flashed through seals making a black character appear over the serpent's head, restricting his movements as Olsen drew a Kunai and disappeared in a flash of hot pink light. He swirled around his head for a moment before skidding to a stop on the ground where he had begun, holding the knife before him. The serpent shook his head, breaking the seal from him and thrumming in his throat.

"That little pen knife won't work on me, The Mighty Vellum!" he growled. Olsen looked down at the kunai, watching in surprise as cracks formed along the entire knife until it simply broke into slivers of metal. Jack drew his pistol, firing off powerful blasts of ice while Jenny fired her bomb arrows only watching as they bounced off his iron-like hide. Matthew and Lillianne drew their weapons, rushing forward as a cloud of energy fell over them making their arms and legs swell slightly before slamming into Vellum hard. Maha simply skated across the surface of his skin, but the tip of Matthew Pyrope Rohen displayed a small glowing drop of what appeared to be his blood. Vellum simply chuckled as the rest of his body slithered from the hole he had made, swinging his tail hurling Matthew then Lillianne to the wall behind them. Helen then stepped forward, violet light gathering around her before shooting into the air while crystal wings sprouted from her back.

"LET THIS SACRED LIGHT CLENSE MY PATH OF MINE ENEMIES!" she screamed as portals in the air slowly opened, raining down sacred light onto Vellum hard enough that it slammed his head to the ground. But the attack was merely angered him further as he pulled his head from the ground and the glow within his mouth became even brighter.

"Force is not something I take well to!" he hissed, firing another unexpected fireball too fast for Helen to block with a barrier, flattening them all to the ground once again. This time they didn't get up as quickly, Jack and Helen finding they sustained more serious injuries.

"Do you now understand what kind of power you are facing? I am but one of four creatures that guard the seals keeping Alice here. You are nothing more than weak humans; you stand no chance. I held back so that you could still live your lives, so I will say again; leave and never return. I am only graceful this once." Olsen stood to his weak legs, trying to seem strong while flicking a triple set of shuriken into his hand, hot pink power flaring around his claw hand.

"And if we refuse?" he asked, wincing when a stab of pain shot thought his chest, making him put a hand to it and feeling a couple broken ribs. Vellum lowered his brow as power built up once again in his mouth, glowing from between his teeth when something sounded as if it fell behind them.

"Vellum please! Leave them alone! I will stay for all eternity, just don't hurt them any further." Alice called as the power within Vellum's mouth dissipated as glowing smoke, fixing his eyes back on to Olsen.

"The lady is pleading for your life Ninja, I would take her offer while she stands by it." he growled, turning and diving into the rock once more, collapsing the tunnel he had come in and the one he left through. Olsen slumped to the ground, dropping his stars while hissing through his teeth at the pain in his chest. Helen was still working on Jack's wounds and wasn't able to attend to him immediately, making Alice hold out her hand: small vines grew through the rock, wrapping around Olsen's arm and partially around his chest, glowing with a soft light, beginning to heal his injuries.

"I thought you said you couldn't use your power?" Jenny pointed out as she put her bow on her back.

"I can't, but I do have the ability to control plants telepathically, allowing the healing power from Mundus Arbor to heal him." Alice replied.

"Why did you make such a promise?" Matthew demanded in an angry tone, resting the tip of his sword on the ground when the veins of mana within the blade went dark.

"I've seen too many people die when the Black Mage attacked. I don't want any more to die for me when I can prevent it." Alice wimpered. Jack chuckled in his throat, leaning against the wall next to her cell and crossed his arms.

"Girl, we're The Guardians of Ossyria, it's our job to help people like you. Besides, we weren't warmed up or fired up. You haven't even begun to see how powerful we are." He said confidently.

"Take comfort Alice, we shall free thee yet." Helen said, violet power flaring around her body.

"We've taken the Black Mage down, how hard could a few of his lackeys be?" Olsen answered, as he, Matthew, Jack, and Jenny all glowed with the power within them, lighting the area in a rainbow of color. Hope began to spring up in Alice's heart once again: perhaps these young people would be able to really free her. But in the same thought, doubts began to come: there was still the traitor that Vellum had spoken of, and they all were still slightly injured. Would they be able to last until they had defeated all four of the creatures?

* * *

Ashura giggled as she and Shinsoo, as well as her mother Black Phoenix and Tsarax raced across the skies, sometimes exchanging sparing blows with one another as part of Ashura's training to better know what kind of powers Shinsoo afforded her. One of them allowed her to launch orbs of flaming energy from her hands as well as some of her physical attributes becoming enhanced beyond what she was normally capable of, making her strength with the spear on par with that of Dances, Matthew or Lillianne.

"Ashura you're amazing! I never knew a princess like you could do something like that." Vondra commented after the two of them had landed and were taking a break.

"Honestly I never knew stuff like that was possible. How come you never did any of this Mother?" Ashura asked.

"It was because of my frailty; after I was bound to Shinsoo, I did indeed absorb his power, but never fully, not as you will." She smiled, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, you said that before when Hilla tried to disprove that you were the Empress. What prevented you from fully absorbing his power?" Ashura asked, trying to piece together things since she was not aware that she might be as powerful as The Guardians one day.

"I always thought it was because of what happened. Not only was I born weak, but the sickness I endured made me even weaker."

"That's not it Empress." Shinsoo interrupted, catching their attention before continuing.

"It feels as though there is something preventing my power from reaching you, as though another person is not allowing it." he explained, shrinking down to his human form and reaching for a glass of water when his entire being changed; his eyes flared bright yellow and his teeth became jagged, rushing to Ashura to grab her out of the way when a giant hoof crashed down on where she had been standing a moment before.

"You move quickly in your human form Shinsoo, despite its limiting your abilities." A rough voice said. Shinsoo skidded to a stop and put Ashura down, exploding into his dragon form once again, digging his claws into the ground as his Protection state was fully activated.

"Balrog!" he growled, as Ashura jumped onto his back and the two of them lunged for him, Shinsoo biting down hard on his bicep while Ashura swung her hands around each other, forcing a blast of flames down Balrog's throat. Vondra charged in, slashing at his chest, but instead of blood spurting from the wound, it was a puff of black vapors. Shinsoo pulled his feet between them, shoving Balrog off down the main street, only to lunge after him again, Shinsoo slamming his tail into him and hurling him out of town towards the plains of the Black Mage's castle. Dumia finally had her mech activated, running through the streets only to be passed by Shinsoo as he flew passed her fast enough that the wind following him nearly toppled the mech.

Mercedes and Luminous saw the commotion, catching up to The New Guardians just as Phantom and the Lumiere were flying in from above. Balrog rolled over onto his hands and knees, spreading his wings and getting ready to attack again when Phantom came careening in, hurting a card forward as the hazy image of a giant knight swung forward, striking Balrog hard enough that it sent him flying back. Balrog caught himself in the air with his wings, but was suddenly driven down to the ground when Shinsoo dove at him from above, whipping his tail onto Blarog's head. When he hit the ground, Patricia and Vondra were waiting; Patricia swung her wand hard, encircling him with a band of dark electricity that reached up to him, paralyzing him. While frozen, Vondra shot past him a few times before stabbing her daggers into the ground making chain scythes burst from the ground and launch him into the air.

Latimer came riding his panther Blaze in as fast as he dared, leaping through the air and taking aim at his chest, releasing a barrage of arrows from his cross bow with the assistance of a mana created machine on the back. Mercedes crossed her arms, summoning a thin barrier of water around herself before charging in, her legs and arms glowing as ferns wrapped around them, a few leaves spreading to her face. Balrog recovered from the attacks by Patricia and Vondra, watching as Mercedes approached and swung his hand only to miss as she jumped up and over him, firing her guns as she went embedding arrows in his hide. When she landed though, Balrog was already bringing his hand down, smashing into the ground where she had been a moment before.

"You're still pretty limber for someone like you." Phantom jokingly said, setting her down.

"I could say the same for you." she laughed, holding her guns to her side, charging in for another attack. Balrog finally became wise to them, forcing Vondra to reduce her attacks to the less powerful ones in exchange for greater speed to keep from getting hit. Blaze's roars that normally sent other creatures flying did little more than make him angry.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" a voice called, making Balrog turn only to have a giant metal fist hit him in the face. Carrying the momentum, he spun and around and ran at Dumia who had called for one of the SG-88 armors, locking hands with her as the two struggled to push each other back, when Dumia pulled one hand back and hit him again, activating one of the shoulder mounted missile bays, launching and hitting him with nearly the entire battery of missiles. But as he stumbled back from the impact, his horns glowed with bright violet letters, healing some of the wound on his body and making eyes glow the same color.

Dumia used the time she was given to activate the arm cannon of the SG-88, but just as the huge clip was sliding into place, Balrog charged and grabbed the arm tearing it from the socket and hurling it away before looking around and charging for Shinsoo who was circling the battle, waiting for an opportunity. Balrog was nearly to Shinsoo when Tzarax dove from the skies, tucking his wings and arms in and slamming into Balrog's chest, making him stumble back a bit. Once on the ground Tzarax charged, unleashing a blast of flames at him when Balrog reach through them and grabbed the dragon by the throat, biting down hard around his torso making Tzarax let out a howling roar of pain.

Dumia coddled her wound for a short while, switching off the right arm and relieving her of the pain, charging in with the other arm cannon. Vondra and Latimer rode on her shoulders, suddenly finding themselves thrown back when Balrog tuned and dug his claws right through the center of the Mecha, not only rendering the SG-88 useless, but also slicing through Dumia's mech and the flesh of her torso as well, painting the cockpit with a thick coat of crimsom before resuming his pursuit of Shinsoo. Luminous charged in, his staff glowing brightly as he unleashed his newly reacquired Morning Star on the chimrea, pummeling him with a sun-like meteor. The impact made Balrog stop for a moment, turning to him just long enough to watch as Mercedes ran up behind him, grab Luminous and hurl him straight into Mercedes sending them both tumbling away from him.

Shinsoo charged while his back was turned, digging his claws into his flesh and tearing at his shoulders while biting the back of his neck. Ashura had dismounted, taking a position on a ledge not far away, firing blast of flames at Balrog over and over again while Shinsoo would be thrown from him only to stop and charge back in. But as the battle drug on, Ashura began to have a sense of dread and began feeling the wounds that were being inflicted to Shinsoo from the battle.

"_How can this be happening?! I thought things like this only happened with a Life Binding!"_ As time wore on though, the dull aches became full on pain. Shinsoo was quickly tiring as his blood was spilled onto dusty ground around them until Balrog threw him to the ground. This time however, Shinsoo wasn't scratching and snorting to get back up, but instead, straining and heaving to pull his body from the ground.

"You are a fierce opponent Shinsoo." Balrog huffed, walking up to him and picking him up by the throat, making it hard for him and Ashura to breathe, running for them while charging a fire ball in her hands until it began to burn her skin.

"Had I not been reborn as the Chaos Beast Baroq, I would no doubt have fallen by now." In a blur of movement, Baroq drove his claws through Shinsoo's chest, making Ashura release the fireball in a random direction as she fell to the ground, coughing up blood as she tried to scream in pain, only able to fall to the ground in silence as Baroq twisted his claws within Shinsoo's body.

"But as you see, I am now the one with superior power, and you are merely a dragon." He seethed, ripping his claws from his flesh making his blood rain down and stain the ground a dark red, flinging his carcass to where Ashura laid twitching and heaving in pain, taking to the skies now that his deed was done. Ashura used every last ounce of strength in her body to drag herself to Shinsoo's beaten body, pulling herself onto his foreleg before coughing up another pool of blood.

"_Shinsoo… I'm sorry…_" she thought as her vision darkened and her arms went limp, unable to hear the sound of the Ereve Knights and Black Phoenix come running to her, jumping from a transport. But the sight before Black Phoenix made her stop, feeling as if her heart would be pulled from her chest and smashed.

"_Shinsoo! Ashura! No!"_ Quickly she ran to the both of them, Brilliance following her to make sure that she wouldn't do anything rash. As she ran however, an unseen rock caught her foot and brought her to the ground just a few yards shy of Shinsoo himself, pulling herself to her knees as her tears began to flow without restraint.

"_No…no this can't be!_" her mind screamed, but her cries went unanswered as she fell to her hands once more, watching as her tears stained the ground below her.

"Shinsoo, Ashura, you can't die…" she whispered, when she felt something surge through her in time with her heartbeat. Light burst from her body, throwing her hair straight up, reaching out for Shinsoo as though it were smoke and when it touched him, a giant seal burst to life on the ground surrounding all three of them. A blast of light shot from the center of the seal, until it was a few feet above them creating a dome of what appeared to be dark water. Brilliance tried to run into the dome before it hit the ground but was too slow and instead bounced off the barrier, quickly getting back to his feet and slamming his fist into it over and over again trying to break through.

"Mihile, what happened?!" Holocaust asked as she and Monsoon came running up to them.

"I don't know, there was a bright flash of light, and then this happened." He answered, looking worriedly back to the dome.

"Fear not brave knight, everyting thing will be well shortly." A gentle voice said, making them turn back to see Rhinne floating down to the ground before them. Inside the barrier, Phoenix felt something rising from her feeling as though she would puke at any moment only to die away and come back until her clothes disintegrated from her body. Light surrounded her, burning away the black color in her hair and dressing her in the royal robes that she was familiar with, only these were slightly different.

The light adorned her body in fine gold jewelry and crowning her head with crown resembling that of a sunrise with finely woven gold chains hanging between each spear of the crown. Slowly the nauseating feeling within her died away, as new thoughts and feelings flooded her mind but feeling as if they were her's all along. She suddenly knew what it was that she could do and reached out for Shinsoo in the light that surrounded her, caressing his muzzle then hovering over to Ashura and putting her hand on her head, both of them glowing with the same light that had erupted from the seal. Outside the barrier, Tzarax suddenly felt as if the Empress's mind disappeared from his own as if she had died. But if she had, then that would have meant he too would have died since the two of them were linked through a Life Binding contract.

The priestesses that had come with the Empress and the Knights finished healing Tzarax's wound, allowing him to rush over to where the knights stood, waiting in concerned anticipation as cracks began forming in the barrier which exploded in a flash of light. As it came down, it revealed Black Phoenix sitting on Shinsoo's fore arm with Ashura laying across her lap comfortably. Bright green vines made of light that had sprouted from the ground died away as the last of the barrier came down, leaving all of them in shocked silence for a long while. A warm breeze caressed Shinsoo's feathers making him open his eyes then pick up his head and look back to Phoenix, his blue eyes seeming to glow for a moment.

"And now you are complete." He said in a low voice, the glow in his eyes fading as he blinked and shook his head, smiling down at her as Ashura stirred as well.

"Wha… what happened?!" Ashura asked, standing to her feet quickly and stepping back when she saw how her mother had changed into a golden haired empress once again.

"It's alright Ashura, it's me, your mother." Phoenix soothed, reaching out her hand until Ashura simply ran to her and hugged her as tight as she could.

"What exactly happened? The last thing I remember was pulling myself onto Shinsoo's fore leg and everything went dark." She cried.

"I don't exactly know my daughter, but I'm just glad to have you back in my arms once again, as well as my dear friend Shinsoo." She said happily, placing a hand on his muzzle as he brought his head down to her.

"Tell me Rhinne, what do you know of this?" Brilliance asked, turning to her with a serious look in his eye. Rhinne smiled, walking forward a bit before waving her hand, making an image appear before them showing Shinsoo looking down at Phoenix from just a moment before.

"_And now you are complete._" the image repeated. Shinsoo narrowed his eyes, unsure if what he was seeing was a trick since he had no memory of saying what he had just heard.

"Did I truly say such a thing?" he asked as Rhinne waved her hand and dismissed the image.

"You have no memory of that time from so long ago do you?" Rhinne asked gently yet cryptically, making everyone feel agitated: what had happened to their empress that Shinsoo and Ashura were brought back to life? And why was it that her appearance had changed as well?

"It was a very, very long time ago Shinsoo, just after you were created by Minerva. She endowed you with a power, a seal of sorts, that would suppress the power of the Empress or Emperor reigning at the time when her life force left this word. Cygnus is a direct descendent of the Goddess Minerva herself." Rhinne said with a smile. Phoenix looked to Rhinne with surprised and worried eyes; how could she be the great descendent of Minerva? Weren't her children all lost during the time of Sharen III?

"I see that you are lost. Let me explain: Shar and Enian were the children of Minerva herself, however their bloodline did not rise to the throne. They remained as Nobles within the Shrenian Empire and when Sharen III rose to power and began corrupting what is now Perion, the decedents of Shar fled, but Enian's bloodline stopped when her family couldn't make it out in time. When Minerva moved to the Palace City of Orbis, she then sought out Shar's decedents, making the first born son of the latest family the first Emperor of Ossyira."

"But what does this have to do with what just happened to her?" Firebolt asked agitatedly, calming a bit when Monsoon put a hand on his arm to relax him.

"As I said before a seal was endowed to Shinsoo, but at the cost of his memory of her doing so. Minerva always knew that she would be killed one day, only she never knew when. The purpose of this seal was to keep the power hidden away until after Minvera's Life Force left this world for the Life Stream. Once that happened, then the emperor or empress on the throne at that time would inherit _all _of her power." Pheonix looked down at her hands as though trying to comprehend what she was told, feeling shivers of something coursing through her body, seeing tiny sparks of something twinkling on her palms.

"However sad as it may seem though, that seal could only be removed upon Shinsoo's death for the ruler of the time to inherit her power. That is why you were never able to fully absorb Shinsoo's power: you already possessed all the power your body could handle. The reason you were born so weak was because your true power had been sealed away by Shinsoo which is why your Life Binding was needed to strengthen you until you were ready. You were incomplete and now that you are, you no longer need a Life Binding contract with Shinsoo or any other dragon." The knights all began to smile, quickly kneeling to the ground before her and laying their weapons on the ground.

"All hail the return of Goddess Cygnus!" they called, making Cygnus stand and wave her hand back and forth in embarrassed refusal.

"No no no no, I'm still the Empress Cygnus! There is no need to call me as such! I don't want this revealed to the public as of yet." she said nervously, afraid that with this new power that she would no longer be seen as someone approachable, detached from her people which is what she always strove for. Brilliance smiled and nodded, standing to his feet and walking over to her putting an arm around her.

"I understand. But you know that eventually the people will have to know." He said calmly as she put her arms around him.

"I know, but I'm afraid that the people will see me as someone who is no longer connected to them. I want to be near my people, not someone who is detached from them." she whimpered. Looking over his shoulder, Cygnus happened to notice Tzarax standing alone as those that had heard came running over to celebrate with her, sadly turning to leave.

"Tzarax wait!" Cygnus called, running after him as he walked away.

"Lady Cygnus, you heard Rhinne. You no longer need me." He said sadly, turning to her and putting on his best smile, which was almost as bad as a full cry. Cygnus sighed, putting her arms around her foreleg as best she could as though embracing him.

"Tzarax, I may no long need you to give me strength but I still need you; just because I have this power available to me doesn't mean I know how to use it. I will still need a protector."

"Isn't that what you have Brilliance and the others for?" Tzarax asked, sounding angered as she tried to convince him to stay.

"Tzarax; while they are meant to protect me, even they can't be near me all the time. Besides, I've grown up with not only Shinsoo, but also with you constantly in my thoughts and to be honest, I am a bit fearful of not having your comforting strength within my mind. So please, will you stay?" Cygnus asked, placing a hand on his forearm.

"I'll stay until you're at least unafraid of the silence." Tzarax promised. Cygnus smiled: it wasn't what she really wanted, but if that was the best she could do at the moment, then that is what she would deal with.

* * *

For what seemed like hours, they all stayed within the stump, trying to figure out which of the doors to go through. They were all locked and no key could be found find a for them, nor did there seem to be any key anywhere for them to use.

"Matthew, we need to leave and come back with reinforcements. There's no way we'll be able to do this on our own." Olsen suggested as they looked over the locks and chains over the doors, wondering if maybe they too had the same power draining ability as the ones around Alice's wrists.

"No! We're not leaving without her!" Matthew scolded.

"But you saw Vellum's power with your own eyes! There's no way we'd be able to defeat four of them like that." Olsen argued in return.

"He's right; we're not leaving without her." Dureau interrupted, holding his chin while he thought.

"Are you going soft all of a sudden Demon Slayer?" Olsen asked harshly. Dureau clenched his jaw using every bit of his will power not to hit this young man with his mace.

"No, I am merely stating a fact. It's at least thirty-five hundred feet from where we stand to the roots that blocked off the cavern, and three to four thousand feet above that. To be honest I don't even know if this is a cavern or another world. But without her power, we aren't leaving." Dureau pointed out. Olsen pinched the bridge of his nose, looking to Helen.

"What about your long range teleportation?" Olsen asked with an agitated huff. Helen nodded, holding her staff parallel to the ground as flames began to surround her, flaring high for a moment before transporting her to the far side of the trunk where she was thrown forward, tripping and stumbling before teleporting back and trying again, only to have the same thing happen again in a different spot.

"I fear this place forbids such travel. An unseen force in preventing said rift from forming properly." Olsen hung his head in disappointment: yes they may be able to defeat these creatures on their own, but with three other creatures as powerful as Vellum, he doubted they would have enough energy to defeat all of them.

"Take heart my dear husband, we are The Guardians; dost thou forget our past and the tribulations we overcame?" Helen asked, placing a hand of his back to comfort him.

"I do remember, but these creatures are not something that we dealt with then. Remember, our bodies have aged and we no longer have the same vitality that we did before."

"That may be true Olsen, but we are more experienced: what we lack in constitution, we will make up for in strategy." Lillianne chimed, standing proudly as though driving home her point when a man appeared behind her.

"Well said young lady, well said indeed, yes yes, well said!" Grabbing Maha she started to swing but managed to stop the blade just before it touched his neck.

"I must say that you are mighty strong, yes yes, mighty strong you are indeed. I have been listening to you, yes yes listening very closely. And it seems that you are in need of a way to defeat someone? Yes yes you are in need indeed!" Lillianne slowly pulled Maha away from him, setting the end of it on the ground, unsure of how she should take this strange little man that had appeared, wearing thick round glasses and overalls.

"Who are you and how do I know we can trust you?" Jack asked, reaching for his pistol and cocking back the hammer as quietly as he could.

"My name is Havis, but you can call me the Key Maker, yes yes, call me Key Maker indeed. I don't take sides, no no I don't take sides at all. It's a dreadful thing, yes yes dreadful indeed to be on a side. I am only here to make the keys, yes yes, I am only here to make the keys that will open these doors. That I do and I do it very well, yes yes very well indeed!" He responded, nearly making Jack dizzy with his strange and quick speech.

"Well then, if you're here to make keys then I suppose that you could make us a set to open each of these doors?" Jenny asked, motioning to the doors they were trying to get through while the man adjusted his glasses.

"Hmmm… I have made the keys, yes yes, all the keys to open one of the locks." Jack became irritated, roughly holstering his pistol and rushing to the man, grabbing him by the neck and picking him up off the ground slightly.

"Talk straight! You're giving me a headache!" he growled. Putting the man down, he coughed for a moment before going on.

"That is not something I can do, no no, not something that I can do easily. For it is how I have always been, yes yes, always indeed." Jack sighed heavily to calm himself, following were Havis was pointing to the door on the middle left.

"Through that door is one called Von Bon, yes yes, the chicken man in his 'Cluck Tower' as he likes to call it, yes yes he does indeed." Olsen sighed, reaching out and stopping Jack from rushing the man again to ask a few questions of his own.

"Can you tell us anything about these 'Seal Guardians' that keep Alice trapped here?" The man looked to be thinking for a moment and smiled.

"That I can do, yes yes, I can do that indeed. You see, each of them guards one part of her cell, yes yes, and they guard them ferociously. Von Bon while strong, is the weakest of them, yes yes, the weakest of the four. The seal he guards prevents Alice from leaving her cell at her door, no no, she can't leave while that seal is intact. It is hidden somewhere in his Cluck Tower, yes yes, hidden somewhere well. But be warned, yes yes, be warned indeed for you may go mad from the sound of clock springs." Havis chuckled, reaching to his belt pulling a key from a ring with a chicken's head on the top, cradling it in his palm

"The next more powerful one is Pierre, yes yes, Pierre is his name, the homicidal jester of the tea party indeed! The seal he guards is hidden in one of the tea pots on his table, yes yes, hidden well indeed among the china and cookies and is linked to her left leg shackle, yes yes." Again, Havis reached to his belt and pulled another key from it, this one having the shape of teapot on the top and held it in his hand, reaching behind him for the last two.

"After him is the giantess, yes yes, the Crimson Queen, giantess of three faces indeed and her seal is of her right leg shackle, yes yes, but I don't know where it is. And finally there is Vellum, the most powerful of them all, yes yes, the most powerful indeed. He guards the seal for the shackles on her wrists, yes yes, the last of the seals indeed. I hold here in my hand the four keys to their citadels, yes yes, but they will only last a short time before they disappear, a short time indeed. It will be 3 years before I can make another set, yes yes, three years indeed." Havis chuckled, Matthew sighed, looking at the four keys resting in the man's hand, noticing one of the keys had the shape of a crown on its top, and the other having something resembling Vellum's head on it. He then looked back at the doors, then turned back to Dureau.

"Dureau, I know that you don't like me bringing this up, but you are not only older but also have much more military expertise from your years within the Black Wings. What would you do?" Dureau clenched his jaw as the mention of his former life was brought up, but calm himself when he felt Mastema brush against his leg and think of a battle plan, looking over the group surrounding him, narrowing his eyes as he thought before beginning. Matthew sighed deeply, already not liking the odds since Vellum proved he could defeat them easily and that was with all nine of them.

"We need to divide our forces. If those keys won't last long we need to do this now and all at once. From what this man here said about Von Bon, he seems to attack with close combat skills. Matthew and Lillianne would be the best choice for that. Jack and the celion will go for Pierre. It's only a guess, but he may rely on distance fighting."

"Why would only Alden and I be needed?" Jack asked as Alden padded up to him and rubbed his head under Jack's hand.

"This man said he was a Jester, and in my experience, most Jesters rely on magic which requires time and distance to recite the spells. You have and the celion have a good balance of close quarters combat and distance fighting, which will keep Pierre in a constant state of imbalance. I and Mastema will take the Crimson Queen."

"How are you going to be able to take on a three faced Giantess?" Jenny asked, having Dureau look over to her with a sarcastic stare.

"I nearly killed the Black Mage; I think I can handle one girl. The rest I haven't mentioned will be going after Vellum. If any of us finishes and has any energy lift, you are to head for Vellum's Citadel. Good hunting." Dureau said, turning to the man and nodding who first opened the door to Von Bon's Cluck Tower for Matthew and Lillianne on the middle left. The next he opened was for Jack and Alden to Pierre's Tea Party on the Middle right, followed by the Crimson Queen's castle on the far right. Finally, he opened the door leading to Vellum's stronghold cave on the far left, all of them opening with an ominous air blowing past them.

Matthew and Lillianne

Quickly they jogged along the path to the citadel which clanked and hummed as though it were a mechanical heartbeat. Again the doors to this building were locked, but both had had enough of locked doors, striking it with a blast of frigid air and breaking it into hundreds of pieces.

"Well if we had the element of surprise before, we don't anymore." Matthew mumbled as they quietly slunk through the giant citadel, trying to block out the deafening clanking of gears and clutches. The Keymaker was right; this place would drive anyone mad that wasn't carful.

"Bawww, you've gawn and knawked down my beautiful dawr." A voice clucked from somewhere in the building. Both of them lowered their stances until they came to an open area, illuminated by a bright white light were the sounds of the gears were lessened. Standing in the middle of it appeared to be a man dressed in a fine suit, but his head was that of a white rooster with a gold monocle, carrying a staff that looked similar to the sealed form of Helen's Staff of Wisdom.

"Are you the one called Von Bon?" Lillianne asked as a light gathered around Maha while winds curled around Matthew's sword.

"Baaawww, so I am. Bawt you are nawt ones I've seen arawnd here befaw." The chicken man replied, making Lillianne shudder in disgust.

"Then you must know why we're here don't you?" Matthew asked while sacred light surrounded the blade.

"Baaawww, that I do. Bawt you will nevaw reach the seal, nawt so lawng as I'm still awlive." He clucked, rushing for Lillianne who had time only to hold up her halberd and hold back his heavy downward blow, sinking her feet into the stone. Matthew used the time he was recovering to attack, swinging hard enough that the light surrounding the blade hummed with the swing. Von Bon leapt out of the way, landing on one of the columns and jumping parallel to the ground at Matthew, swinging his staff and hitting him across the chest plate making sparks flower to life.

As he flew to the other side of the room, Lillianne used a battle step to first catch, then pass him to where he was going, ice crackling to life on Maha to meet him where he flew. However the downward swing she unleashed smacked into the ground instead, freezing the stone floors in a giant patch. Matthew growled as lightning struck at his feet, rushing forward and meeting Von Bon where he had redirected to as twin orbs appeared around Matthew's wrist.

"Baaawww, you mawst be the Gawdiand I've heard so much abawt. Pitty; your strength and powawr waws faw over emphasized." He said, tilting his head this way and that when Ruby Crystal flared from Matthew's body, feeding into the veins of the Pyrope Rohen with an ear piercing scream. The noise made Von Bon pull back only to be hit with a blast of sound when Matthew forced his hand forward making giant tiger leap from his back and roar.

"Then you haven't heard everything; MANA OVERDRIVE!" He shouted, as the shadows of his body became engulfed with golden red light, soon followed by Lillianne, both of them charging in with frosty air chasing them.

* * *

Jack and Alden

"Alright boy, I know I'm not Jenny but I'm going to be counting on you to watch my back, you got that?" Jack said. Alden almost looked as if he smiled, growling in his throat as the two of them approached the nauseating carnival-like atmosphere of Pierre's Tea Party where large plates of what appeared to be scones and pots of tea sat, some of them hooting and tooting a hauntingly playful tune. Jack plastered himself against one of the giant cups, trying to peek around it but having no luck until he saw that Alden was looking from over the top of a tea pot and tilted his head slightly to the side as if asking Alden if he could see anything.

Alden's wagging tail told Jack of his battle's soon coming, flexing his fingers and tightening the belts of his knucklers, clenching his fists to make the long golden blades shoot out from the body of the knucklers. However the noise that rang from the blades was louder than he remembered and caught the attention of Pierre, stopping the music and speaking to the air as though it were a chorus of children's voices.

"Guests are here! Guests are here! Oh boy oh boy! Come on out and have some tea with me!" the voice called, but stopped cold when he heard the crackling of Jack's pistol hammer being cocked back turned his head up still faced away from him.

"I'm not here for tea you stuffed freak." Jack hissed, aiming to the back of the ridiculous looking hat for his head.

"But why not? I've got the whole party set up and everything!" Pierre whined, turning around and motioning to the table.

"I'm only here because Alice needs my help." Jack answered as Alden walked up beside him, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end, baring his teeth in a lip curling snarl.

"Oh, her. Well then, I guess I'll have to kill you; and after I worked so hard in getting the bloodstains out of my clothes from my last meal too." Pierre answered, suddenly rushing at the both of them and appearing in a cloud of warped mana, blasting the two of them back into a giant slice of cake. Before Jack had time to squirm free Pierre was already conjuring the next spell, casting it with the help of a baby blue umbrella and then hurling it forward, smashing into the cake spitting Jack out the other side. With a hard jab, Jack dug the blades of his knucklers into the ground, looking through the hole in the cake as Alden snuck up behind Pierre and leapt on him, sinking his teeth into his shoulder and digging his claws into anything that he could grab.

"_That's it you big kitty, tear him up!_" Jack thought, pulling his fist from the ground while Ruby power flared on his arms as he kicked up a rooster tail running back for Pierre. Before impact, Alden kicked off the jester, shoving him forwards and into Jack's Oncoming fist that hit him hard enough to send Pierre careening back through the table he had prepared, the resulting shock wave rippling through the air. Before Pierre could even get up, Jack had lobbed a pair of grenades at him both detonating early when Jack shot them. Pierre walked from the cloud of smoke painfully, wiping the back of his hand across his lip, his face becoming contorted with rage when he saw his blood staining the back of his glove.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" he shouted, conjuring another powerful spell as Jack raised his fists to the ready.

"I'd like to see you try!" he muttered, blasting forwards and slamming his blades into the jester before he had a chance to release the spell. Pierre teleported away only to be met with Alden's fierce teeth once more, but this time was prepared and hit him with a quick spell he had conjured, sending the celion back only to see Jack charging at him once more.

* * *

Dureau and Mastema

The halls of the palace this Crimson Queen lived in were so eerily familiar to the Temple of Time when the Black Mage occupied it, that Dureau felt as if he had been transported back in time. Feelings of rage and anguish over his lost mother and brother rose to the surface like a bubble in the back of his mind. When he reached what he assumed to be the throne room, he pushed the doors open with naught but a whisper to reveal a hideous looking, gaunt giantess wearing a Victorian style dress, the high collar hiding her unsightly face.

"Oh my, what adorable guests we have today!" she said, almost as if she were a gentle woman, until her head suddenly twisted on her neck, crackling and gurgling until it turned to a face exactly the same, only this one's eyes were cold and heartless, revealing sharp dagger-like teeth as she spoke.

"How dare you think that you are even worthy of stepping into the Royal Palace of the Crimson Queen!" it said, before twisting back to the first face which laughed lightly, putting a hand over her mouth as if trying to be cute.

"I supposed that you didn't know this was to be your grave did you?" she asked. Dureau hissed between his teeth grabbing his mace and taking a stance as his Agies began weaving around his weapon in a dark color.

"You know nothing of me!" he growled as Mastema arched her back, extending her claws and hissing as loud as she could despite the fact that she was completely terrified. But the queen seem unfazed as her head twisted around once again to a face that was again, exactly the same only the mascara around its eyes was running badly and had been rubbed into dark circles around her eyes, this voice sounding more like it had been constantly crying.

"Please, allow me to mourn for your demise." She sobbed, wiping an ink stained tear away from the corner of her eye.

"I TOLD YOU ONCE ALREADY THAT I'M NOT DYING!" Dureau roared, raising his wings as he shot towards her, launching his powerful Demon Lash, knocking her to the ground.

"You insolent RAT!" she screamed as her head turned to the face with the cold eyes, pulling herself to her feet and rushing at him, swinging her hand as though her finger were claws glowing with the dull light of the throne room. Dureau managed to avoid the hit, flying to another part of the throne room when she came at him again, this time her face being that of the kinder personality but baring her sharp, pointed teeth in a mad grin.

"You won't get away!" she howled, taking another swing at him, but missing as he flew to the side. Mastema suddenly found that she was in her human form once more, summoning her sword into her hand and launching off the wall, swinging hard and slicing through the queen's cheek.

"My face! My beautiful face! What have you Done!" she howled, turning her head to her in a sickening blur to the cold eye face where a blast of violet flames spewed from her mouth, only burning the floor when Mastema jumped out of the way. Just after she had unleashed the flames, her head twisted around to the crying personality, sobbing uncontrollably as she went after Mastema.

"Can you not feel my agony for you?" She wailed, swinging her claws at Mastema over and over again, deflected by Mastema's blade.

"Just shut UP!" Dureau shouted zigzagging across the floor, his mace becoming surrounded by his Agies as a huge scythe, cutting through her forearm and again through her cheek and he flew past.

"Stop it!" the screamed, swinging her hands wildly, digging into the rock of the throne room while igniting the curtains and tapestries ablaze, lighting the area with a dull orange glow.

"I will burn you all to ashes!" she howled as she, Dureau and Mastema all lunged for each other, the force of impact cracking the windows and blowing out most of the flames in the room.

* * *

Vellum's Requiem

It took longer than any of them anticipated as they descended into the cave that supposedly housed Vellum, but when they finally reached the very bottom, what they saw was more like a temple rather than some dull old cave.

"This is where Vellum lives?" Jenny asked, looking around at the fine stone carvings that surrounded an alter of sorts where a giant seal hovered in the center, glowing with calming blue light.

"I'd almost hate to destroy this place." Olsen said wistfully, placing his hand on one of the carvings of a majestic looking creature.

"I am saddened as thee Olsen, but remember the covenant we made with Alice to free her." Helen said, placing a hand on his shoulder and bringing him with her as they walked to the altar when his skin tingled.

"Something's not right." Olsen warned as he looked around and stopped, drawing his daggers and lowering his stance, looking into the darkness that surrounded them for something, anything, that would give away what they had come seeking.

"Is it not our good fortune that we shall take down this seal without battle?" Helen asked as she stepped up to the alter and began to feel out the seal so she could use her dispelling method on it.

"That is what worries me. Vellum isn't the kind of… LOOK OUT!" Olsen shouted, streaking forward with help from his jumping method, grabbing Helen out of the way just as Vellum's massive tail slammed down on the stairs.

"What a surprise that you three are still here. What happened to the others? Were they too afraid of coming?" the forced hiss of his voice echoed through the chamber, making Vellum sound even more disturbing than he already did.

"Just let us take down the seal, that's all we want." Jenny called as Vellum's head came into view behind the seal, slithering around the alter right up to her before thrusting his head down, letting her feel the sweltering heat of the energy building in the back of his throat.

"That would be against my orders _little_ girl. Besides, I've defeated you once with only a small portion of my power. If you've come here than your death has been ordained and I won't have to hold back!" Flames roared to life around his horns as even more flames began roaring from the joints in his body, funneling up to his mouth where it shot down as a bolt of super heated magma, turning the rocks where she had been a moment before into glass. Jenny ran back as quickly as she could, grabbing her bow from off her back, jerking her hand to flick the arms into place before drawing an arrow while green light surrounded her eyes, looking all over the giant serpent but finding no weak spots.

"_That can't be! Everything has a weak spot!_" she thought. But her thoughts were interrupted when Vellum's tail swept through where she was making her jump and grab for her crossbow, firing the bolt into the ground which erupted in a spray of arrows from the ground and freezing his tail in place. Helen burst into existence, spinning her staff on her hands as a poison bubble formed from her pouch, lazily making its way to Vellum's face. He turned to it, taking a breath as power built in his throat when the poison was frozen and burst into shards when Vellum hit it with his blast, some of the shards sticking in his skin. Olsen jumped from pillar to pillar, hurling shuriken each time he flew through the air, sometimes even hurling his avenger star only to watch as they sparked from tough hide.

"_Alright big guy, let's see how you like this!_" Olsen growled to himself, creating one of his avenger stars forcing his crystal power into it making the surface of the star glow a bright red and hurl it as hard as he could, sounding almost like a gun shot. The star's point stuck into Vellum's skin just below his head, exploding with enough force that the ground shook.

"Did you get him?" Jenny asked until the smoke was blown away by Vellum's roar when he dove into the rocks and disappeared. All three of them could feel his movement, but none of them could tell where he was going until he burst from the ground right behind Olsen, unleashing the power in his mouth in a torrential blast of light and heat. Out of habit Olsen reached for his cloak, until he remembered that he had given it to Vondra.

"_Fine time to remember something like that!"_ Olsen cursed to himself. In a blur of motion, Olsen waved his hands through the air and shoved his palm forward making a blast of air push the flames back or around him. Jenny ran to the serpent, jumping into the air and drawing her bow as far back as she could while bright green flames roared to life around her arrow as she let it go, punching through the smoke of the flames and hitting Vellum hard on the nose. Helen's hair and eyes glowed bright violet as she hovered into the air; cold air forming at the end of her staff as she swung forward, making a giant spear of ice connected to a huge ice chain cut through Vellum's side, freezing him to the wall with a large chunk of ice.

"Alright Helen, nice shot!" Jenny shouted before Vellum twisted hard and broke free.

"'Twas his head I aimed!" Helen growled, frustrated that she hadn't fully mastered the directional ability of her newly learned Glacial Chain.

"You are all going to wish that I had put you out of you misery WHEN WE FIRST MET!" Vellum roared, opening his mouth as a blast of flame gathered on his tongue, spewing forward as an intoxicatingly hot cloud of flames.

* * *

Matthew and Lillianne

For the tenth time, Matthew was flung back into the clock works that surrounded them, narrowly avoiding being squashed between the gear mesh. However the effects of the Mana Overdrive had begun to take its toll on their bodies, breaking when Lillianne had been thrown against a wall and knocked out for a short time. With what little mana she had left from the Overdrive, she fought off Von Bon long enough for Matthew to call on his Dragon Stigma which allowed him to deal heavy, critical wounds to Von Bon. However Matthew's body felt weak after using up all his mana, subjecting his body to the one use of the Dragon Stigma, and using the Crystal Power for the past 20 minutes after his mana had run dry. Lillianne did what she could, but without any mana, most of her attacks were nothing but brute force which were steadily becoming softer with time as she tired.

"You awre becoming a nuisance! You just don't know when to give up!" Von Bon clucked between heaves for breath, using his knees to hold him up while Lillianne and Matthew both gasped for breath.

"We can't leave without her! Besides, we _need_ her up there!" Matthew heaved, pulling his exhausted body to his full height, barely able to hold up the Rohen even with the veins engorged with Crystal power.

"You have no idea the kind of forces you are dealing with! I will make sure that she stays here!" Von Bon shrieked, charging forward with a hard enough swing that the tip carried a contrail through the air, slamming into Matthew's half hearted block, hurling him through three columns and into the wall. He then ran at Lillianne who managed to block his blow but was thrown to the ground when he spun around and swept her feet from under her and held his staff to her neck.

He paused, almost as if reveling the fear in her eyes, then pulled back the staff as far as he could as mana sizzled on the spines sprouting from the ring at the top of the staff. He was just driving it down to her neck when something sounded as if it were rushing at them. Von Bon began to turn but was broad sided when a huge green and gold shield slammed into him, crushing him between it at and the wall.

"You alright?" Matthew asked, tiredly pulling the Rohen from the ground, all of the veins within the blade pulsing with Ruby Crystal power.

"Yeah." Lillianne nodded. Matthew held his sword up before him, closing his eyes as light began to gather in two halves of a sword, the guard being that of wings and a finely designed entanglement of gold vines.

"Those of Valhalla hear my voice. Endow my sword with your might that I may slay those who would oppress the weak!" When he finished the chant, the two halves of the sword slammed together around the Rohen making the blade into solid light. As Matthew swept it to the side, it hummed with each movement he made while his hair and eyes flashed with red light.

"What is this?!" Von Bon demanded pulling his body from the depression in the wall after the shield had dissipated.

"This is the Cry to Valhalla. It endows me with the power of the gods; coupled with my own Crystal power, it gives me the fortitude for one final strike!" Matthew shouted, rushing forward after a burst of light erupted at his feet.

"That still won't be enough to save you!" Von Bon shouted, rushing forward to meet Matthew half way, sparks flying as the two weapons met, but collapsing slightly under the weight of Matthew's swing down on him.

"_This is bad! I can't defend against this kind of weight for long!_" Von Bon thought, until his thoughts were cut short when Lillianne rushed at him with a battle step, hitting him hard with a wave of ice she launched from her halberd.

"I thought you were out of mana?!" Matthew hollered when the sword hit the ground.

"I was, but I happened to bring a Mana Potion with me just in case." Lillianne chuckled, shivering when she thought about the taste that was still on her tongue.

"Nice, do you happen to have an orange potion on hand?" Lillianne smiled as she tossed him the bottle, thumbing off the cork and downing the contents as his breathing slowed to a more manageable level. Looking down to his wrist, he saw that his Warrior's Overcharge was fully filled, all five orbs around his wrists glowing bright red. He then absorbed all of them while Von Bon seemed to glow in Matthew's vision.

"Get ready you overgrown chicken, because this is the end for you!" Lightning struck at Matthew's feet while golden orange claws dug into the ground. Just as he stepped into his charge, bright red dragon wings sprouted from his back, driving them down shooting him forward. Von Bon quickly stood, holding up his staff in hopes that the pillars holding up the Cluck Work would slow his swing, but watched in horror as the sword passed around them as though they were nothing, striking him so hard that his guard stance nearly collapsed. Matthew then pulled back and swung again, this time from the right and was blocked once again, this time the swing was even harder.

Von Bon looked down at Matthew's wrists to see orbs appearing with each hit that he blocked, noting that each strike after an orb appeared was heavier than the last. When all five orbs had turned a bright blood red, Matthew absorbed some of them striking, Von Bon hard but only stopping for a moment until an explosion of green energy propelled the sword on, hurling the chicken into the wall with his eyes a milky white.

"What have you DONE?!" Von Bon roared, holding out his hands as he stumbled around, blinded by Matthew's Panic swing.

"It's only temporary, but it's enough for me!" Matthew called, rushing forward once again and swinging upwards, tossing Von Bon into the air before driving him back down to the ground. Holding his sword straight up, a fireball began forming around Von Bon, lighting his entire being on fire as he tried to brush away the flames.

"BE GONE!" Matthew shouted bringing down his sword hard and slicing right through the center of the chicken cleanly before engulfing him in a blast of flames that melted a huge hole through some of the gears above them. As the embers cleared, the light from around the sword dissipated allowing the Rohen to clank on the ground while Matthew gasped for breath, falling to his knees.

"Are you alright?" Lillianne asked, as Matthew nodded and put the sword on his back, walking back to where they had first seen Von Bon figuring if that's where he was then the seal had to be somewhere nearby. Lillianne joined him after she was told what he was looking for and found the seal as big as day sitting within a large gear just above where they had been fighting.

"Would you do the honors? I'm wiped out." Matthew panted, leaning on his legs for support.

"With pleasure." Lillianne responded, gathering the power that she had been storing in Maha during the fight and unleashed it all in a beam at the seal, breaking it in a plume of fire and metal shavings. Matthew then slumped to the ground, releasing the sword from around his shoulders and leaning against the wall, thankful that the fight was over when he heard the popping shatter of glass from far away followed by what sounded to be a sickening laugh.

* * *

Jack and Alden

Jack slammed both fists down digging the blades into the ground to stop his backward slide as Alden came up to him, growling a bit as he tried to vacate his mouth of the bad tasting fabric from Pierre's shirt before returning to his hard panting.

"It's ok bud, we'll get him, just hang in there." Jack huffed, getting to his feet once more and turning to face where Pierre stood, gloating over the fact that he had been able to keep Jack or Alden at a fair distance for the past 20 minutes. When Jack tried to use his pistol or Alden his power, Pierre simply summoned a spell that required less time and kept them on the run constantly.

"Ha ha ha, you can't even lay a finger on me. Look at you! You're so warn out that your tongue looks like it'll hit the ground! HA HA HA HA!" Pierre laughed, holding his stomach and rolling on his back.

"I may be tired, but I still have enough power to beat you senseless!" Jack said confidently, stomping his foot on the ground and sweeping his fists to the side as his body exploded into a gleaming beacon of bright red light.

"Ooooo… I'm so scared." Pierre teased, squatting down as though her were making a curtsy and holding a hand over his mouth in faked fear.

"YOU SHOULD BE!" Jack shouted back in an ethereal growl, shooting forward so fast that his feet never touched the ground. Pierre braced for the impact, finding that his guard was nothing more than delaying the inevitable as Jack went for his gut, plunging the sharp blades into him again and again. Jack then retracted the blade and hit his face with a blur of punches that ended when Pierre felt his body lifted into the air by an upper cut and then hurled back into a teapot when Jack hit him with another of his blade armed punches. Pulling himself from the wreckage, Pierre looked around at the mutilated banquet table that he had prepared then looked back to Jack who was still glowing with bright red power.

"Where are you getting all this power from?!" he screamed, looking down at his bleeding wounds which were now beginning to hurt. How could this be? Earlier he was able to keep him at bay, but now it was as if he were doing nothing at all!

"It helps that I have the Ruby Crystal at my disposal." Jack answered, turning and holding one hand above the other while the energy he had been saving from his attacks gathered in the space between. With a forceful grunt he thrust his palms forward making the energy become a high powered beam that Pierre tried to avoid when it took off his right foot. Just as he was about to recover from ducking out of the way, Jack was already on him forcing one of his fist's blades through his chest, breaking some of his ribs and tossing him back into one of the larger tea pots which collapsed down on top of him.

For one final assurance that Pierre was indeed defeated or dead, Jack closed his mana gates and focused a large bit of Crystal Power into a huge missile, grabbing it by the tail and tossing it into the air just high enough that it came crashing down on Pierre, bursting into a cloud of crystal shrapnel and tea pot fragments. Jack looked out from behind his cover and chuckled to himself when the sudden urge to cough hit him, spitting out a glob of blood and doubling over in pain.

"_Urgh, I must have pushed a bit too hard this time._" he thought, when Alden padded up to him, whining slightly as if asking about him while licking his face.

"It's alright boy, it's not that bad. I just need your help to get back to the tree stump." Jack said painfully, unable to fully stand straight because of the pain kicking him in his gut. As he left, he snapped his fingers remembering that they still had to destroy the seal which was hidden in one of the tea pots. One by one Alden wound smash a hole in the side with his power for Jack to look inside, and then move to the next. Unbeknownst to him, Pierre followed them everywhere they went, despite his missing foot and his bleeding wounds: it was a surprise that he survived the blast, even though his barrier spell was half baked at best. He was just waiting for the right moment to strike when that pesky pirate's guard would be the lowest, and it appeared that he wouldn't have to wait long since they seemed particularly interested in a gold teapot on the far side of the party area.

"_That's the seal! I have to get him now, or else the master will come after me!_" Pierre's mind screamed as he moved as best he could to another position and jumped high into the air, swinging his staff down as though it were a sword while a blazing fire spell came to life around it. But Jack turned towards him as he came down, grabbing his pistol from the holster and holding it at arm's length which met with Pierre's forehead where he landed .

"Oh." Pierre said calmly, holding a surprised look on his face until Jack pulled the trigger, spraying the contents of his head against a white tea pot behind them. Jack holstered his pistol, closing his eyes and swallowing hard: he understood that there were times when he needed to kill, but even now after all this time had gone by, it still bothered him whenever he took a life the way he just did.

Once he was sure that the gold tea pot before him was the one, he drew back his fist and smashed through the brittle walls, breaking the seal down as shards of porcelain whizzed past his cheek and made small cuts in them as they went. But it was done, and so was he as he draped himself over Alden's back: he wanted to help the others with Vellum, but his body was pushed too far past its limit. He had finished with his duty and broke the seal putting them one step closer to releasing her; he was sure that the others could handle Vellum.

* * *

Dureau and Mastema

Dureau shot up from the ground, beating his wings hard and slamming into the ground making spines of his Agies energy shoot up from below, impaling the Queens arms with the spines until they disintegrated and left the holes. Her neck crackled as her crying face turned to them, holding up her arms before her while more tears fell down her face, dragging her mascara even further down her cheeks.

"Why can you not understand the pain I am suffering for you!" She shrieked, coming at him with a swipe of her claws which was blocked by Mastema, allowing Dureau to shoot into the air, swinging around and launching what appeared to be a three tooth blade at her on a chain of Agies, digging into her side after wrapping around her waist. Mastema jumped into the air with him, grabbing hold of the chain and hauling on it with Dureau, pulling the queen into the wall and ripping it from her skin with a wet squelch.

The queen howled in pain when she hit, turning her head again to the face of cold eyes belching a flood of pinkish violet flames. Dureau quickly grabbed Mastema and flew straight up, riding a burst of hot Agies he had released. The Queen swung her arm wide, swatting them back down to the ground. Dureau pulled his wing in front of where they would hit as green letters glowed on the membrane of his wings, shielding them from most of the impact, but at the cost of Dureau's right wing joint becoming dislocated.

"Dureau!" Mastema shouted as he struggled to get up and ignore the pain. His face then become something that Mastema had never seen, glowing hot with Agies while some kind of vapors seeped from between his now elongated mouth that bared his sharp teeth within. When the queen's hand was coming down on top of them, Dureau spun around, slicing through her hand at her knuckles with his scythe, cutting off her fingers. In the moments that the Queen reeled from the pain, Dureau held his mace forward where a bright white light burst into existence, and slowly began to draw everything around them into it.

"Feel the rage within my soul!" he growled, pointing it at the Queen's head once the suction had become strong enough and pulled her down to the ground hard. She was still somewhat far away, but in another growl Dureau hurled his Chain Vortex into her forehead, hauling her back to him across the ground where he turned to her as his weapon defused. His face continued to contort into a creature that more resembled an alligator rather than a human, his eyes glowing and elongating as the transformation continued while his Agies spread up his arm and over his face in a dark purple color.

All at once he leaned forward, opening his mouth and spewing a toxic mix of fumes into the Queen's face which slowly began eating away at her skin making her reach her good hand over her eyes, rocketing to her feet as power began to feel all over her like electrcity. Something big was coming, that much he was sure of and so grabbed Mastema's hand and ran to the front of the throne room to jump through the window. The Queen managed to see between her fingers just enough that she launched a bolt of lightning for them; Dureau put his arm over Mastema and pulled her to the ground, avoiding the hit which instead broke through the wall below the window Dureau was aiming for.

Not waiting for another attack to come in, Mastema hauled Dureau to his feet as the two of them ran hand in hand out the hole and plummeted towards the brambles below. She knew that she could never support the weight of two people with her wings the way Dureau could, but at least it would slow them down enough so that they wouldn't die or be impaled by the large thorns all around the castle. As she thought, it wasn't pretty, but she managed to slow the two of them enough that Dureau was easily able to make their landing, catching her in his arms before collapsing to the ground holding his left shoulder. Mastema knelt to him, trying to pull his hand away when she saw that his fingers were drenched in blood.

"Dureau, that wound on your shoulder will only slow you down if we don't…"

"There's no time Mastema: my Miasma Vapors will only hold her off for so long. Help me get my wing back into socket." He said, grunting when the thought about the pain he was in from his dislocated wing. Mastema ran around, feeling where the joint was at the base of his wing and bracing him with the other, pushing in hard as the joint gurgled before popping so loud that Mastema felt it through her hand. Dureau did the best he could from screaming in pain, gritting his teeth hard, growling and hissing through his teeth while rocking forward to his hands and knees as a hard, dull ache began to settle into his shoulder blade and right side of his upper back.

"Thank you." he muttered, getting to his feet with some difficulty while rolling his wing to stabilize the pain.

"But what about…"

"This is nothing more than a flesh wound." He answered when the Queen burst from inside the castle, but this time almost as if she were spilling out of it as first her arms, then her head and body looked to be flowing out of the hole, looking around as she switched from face to face.

"What in Ossyria has she become?!" Mastema asked to no one, grabbing her sword once again and walking to Dureau's side. The one face he had breathed his vapors onto looked to be nothing more than a skull since most of the flesh had decayed off.

"It's a last effort display of power Mastema. If we kill her here like this, she will die for good. Besides, my Miasma will eventually work its way into her heart now that it's in her bloodstream, and that's where the real damage begins." He explained when The Queen's head snapped to where they were, the crazy look of her face intensified by the fact that all her skin was missing.

"THERE YOU ARE!" she shouted, opening her mouth once again as flames spewed down on them. Mastema began running forward through the thickets while Dureau disappeared in a beam of red light, reappearing next to her face with the giant twin scythes spinning on his mace, cutting through her flesh with ease and dislodging one of her eyes.

"AAAAHH! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT LITTLE MAN!" she howled, reaching back for him as though her body were made of dough until Mastema ran up the wall of her castle and jumped back, slicing off her hand at the wrist while Dureau shot down to the Queen, hitting her head over and over again with thunderous blows, spinning her head one way and then back the other, switching between faces. Mastema flew above them, holding her sword before her, placing a hand on the blade which glowed with a dull greenish blue from her own Agies; it was nowhere near as strong as Dureau's but it was powerful for a low level demon such as her.

With a beat of her wings she shot down to them as fast as she dared, her sword buzzing as she sliced through the Queen's arm at her elbow, then cut through her bicep. The Queen could do nothing to reach for her arm as Dureau hit her hard enough to cast her to the ground, more of her body spilling from the castle as she slumped down into the briers below. With another burst of Agies, Dureau transported to her chest, listening closely for the gurgle of his Miasma to begin to work and smiled when he did, jumping high into the air and slamming his mace on the ground, making spears of his Agies shoot from the ground through her body, the tips of which poked through on her front. The Queen tried to get up, but something within her felt off: she couldn't move, nor could she breathe very easily. The sudden urge to cough made her spew a cloud of what appeared to be bits of flesh and blood being a strange purple color.

"What did you do to me?" She asked, switching to her face of tears and turning to where Dureau and Mastema stood.

"You're rotting from the inside out, just as you should. In another minute or so, your body will begin to disintegrate at an exponential rate until there is nothing left of you but dust." Dureau answered as the Queen once again switched her face, but to the maniacal laughing one and smiled.

"So the cute little guest defeated the Queen." as she spoke, parts of her face began to deteriorate, her skin peeling away as the Miasma ate through her flesh and bones.

"Perhaps we can do this… another time." She whispered, letting out her breath on her last word and becoming still while the Miasma ran its course, and within a short time the only thing that remained was her crown, still as large as her final form. From within it, a light glistened drawing the two of them to it and revealing that the Seal they were looking for; Dureau formed his scythe while Mastema held up her sword, both of them cutting the crown right down the middle as the light faded from existence.

"If the others did their part, then three of the seals should be dispelled by now. " Dureau said flatly, turning to Mastema and setting a hand on her shoulder. Mastema thought that he would say something only to smile at herself for thinking like that; he was changing, but in a good way. Additionally though, she hoped that he wouldn't change too much since his strength and calm, commanding demeanor is what drew her to him in the first place.

"We should go and see if the others need help with Vellum." She suggested. Dureau nodded, looking over at the wound on his shoulder, holding his hand above it while the Ageis sped up the healing process as they walked.

* * *

Vellum's Grand Finale

The spell was deflected by Vellum's tail as though it were nothing, tossing the Ice Demon back at Helen who only had enough time to duck out of the way, splashing on the wall as a sheet of ice.

"Do you think you can actually hit him next time!" Jenny called, firing a flaming arrow at the ground next to her to free her leg just in time to dodge Vellum's fire blast. Olsen lunged for his body, holding his hands before him as Mana gathered in his fist while he mumbled a charm, opening his eyes and forcing his hands forward.

"BE SEALED!" He shouted as a giant character from the book of spells appeared over Vellum's face, turning the area around Olsen a grey color as time ceased. In a flash of mana, he swirled around Vellum's head, cutting through the toughest part of his skin before skidding to a stop on the other side while time caught back up. Jenny and Helen both took a moment to figure out what happened, since it appeared to them that Olsen just appeared kneeling on the other side of Vellum from where he was a moment before, until bright white blood spurted from Vellum's head along four different cuts.

The giant serpent roared so loud that the very air seemed to shake, making the three of them cover their ears which didn't help in the least before Vellum dove under the rocks, swimming through them as though they were water. He burst from under Jenny's foot hold and swatted her to the ground with his head, blasting where she landed with a fireball. Helen teleported before him, holding her hands wide as a square formed around Vellum's neck, then slammed her hands together creating the other five sides of a box, encapsulating Vellum's head within the seal. The Serpent tried again to let a powerful ball of fire loose, but it only exploded in his face when it hit the seal.

"You think that this _simple_ seal will hold me!" Vellum roared as his horns began glowing even brighter than they already were as light began shining from his body joints like suns traveling up his body and into his mouth. Helen knew the seal wouldn't last forever, so instead she summoned her book of spells, fluttering through its pages until it came to a powerful ice spell.

"From thy belly, I call to the waters of the north; let them hear my voice and to my side come as my sword. Take the waters of the firmament; let them be my shield…" However her spell was cut short when Vellum unleashed the power he had gathered, shattering the seal and blowing Helen away with the force of the explosion. Once the smoke had settled, Vellum looked around, his body expanding and shrinking as he breathed; this was the first time that anyone had ever made him breathe hard, or was it something else? Not to mention that his normally iron hard skin had given way to the Ninja's blade. Thinking back on the previous thirty minutes, Vellum remembered one of the first attacks the spell caster had used: a combination of poison and ice and when he had shattered the sphere, some of the shards had stuck into his body and had been slowly melting ever since.

"Very clever girl, using poison and ice elements like that; however your victory will not come. You have only delayed the inevitable." He hissed, looking around for them after he noted that the archer was missing from the spot he had blasted earlier.

"Then try this on for size!" Olsen howled, holding his fist before him as crystal power flared around his claw hand, making a comet trail as he swung it up over his head and slammed it into the ground where a huge seal appeared for a moment centered on him.

"That did nothing but waste energy needlessly! But I will oblige you and make your death the quickest!" Vellum hissed, rushing for him when he suddenly felt as if he were moving at a tenth of his possible speed.

"What is this?!" Vellum roared, slowly beginning to turn around and slither back to where he had come from.

"It's called the Frailty Curse. What comes next is something that neither you nor I will like!" Olsen held his hands before, him one above the other, palms inward creating a huge four point shuriken between them as he folded his hands, speaking a quick charm on it before grabbing it, jumping into the air and hurling it hard at Vellum. Helen teleported out of her hiding spot swinging her hands in a large sweeping motion while electricity gathered between her hands thundering forwards and hitting Vellum hard, locking up his entire body until the Shuriken hit, digging into his body where it defused making the area it hit glow for a moment.

Jenny stepped out from where she had been taken to by Olsen, painfully picking up her bow and drawing the string: light from the bow began to gather into the spot where the arrow would be, creating a glowing golden Spine Arrow so powerful that she was having trouble keeping it in her grip. Thunder split the air as she let it go, warping the air around it as it flew straight into Vellum's chest and hurled him into the wall dragging the rest of his body out of the ground.

Olsen crossed his arms after all three attacks had hit, seeming to teleport himself to the ground before Vellum as he lay against the wall, slowly regaining consciousness; but something didn't feel right. Looking down at his body, he began to see his blood running from one of his body joints, and then felt it running from his nose, his mouth, under his chin, around his horns; his entire body felt his blood running down his skin, dropping to the ground in great golden white puddles.

"I WILL FINISH YOU BEFORE MY END!" He roared, pulling his slick body from against the wall, rushing for the first person he saw which happened to be Helen. Olsen and Jenny both hollered for her to move, but she remained with her eyes closed, slowly raising her arms making Olsen raise an eyebrow: what did she have in mind? From her hands, a bright violet light burst to existence around her body as though it were her clothes when pieces of armor began forming in the air then clamped down onto her body until a helm appeared on her head and enormous white wings burst from her back, making her look like an angelic knight. The final touch was throwing her staff into the air as light surrounded it, transforming the once elegant staff into a sleek joust, falling back into her grip with a clang when it hit her gauntlet.

Vellum had taken a moment to turn away so that he wasn't blinded by the light but when it settled, he resumed his attack on her, opening his jaw wide enough that should he bring it down would clamp down on her completely. To counter, Helen looked as if she leaned forward, raising her wings in a bright flash of light that rushed past the serpent; Helen appeared behind him out of the sheet of light, while Vellum slowed to a stop, his horns and body having gone dark and his eyes nothing more than empty pits, both of them doing nothing until Helen swung the lance to the side, throwing the blood that had gathered on it onto a nearby stalagmite.

A few moments more past in silence when tears in Vellum's flesh appeared all down his body to where it met the ground, finishing when a hole blew through his chest with chunks of flesh and showers of blood, tossing the huge Serpent back on himself at an unnatural bend, hitting the ground with a hard rumble. Helen breathed a sigh of relief as the armor dissipated, teleporting to the ground in front of the seal they had tried to undo the first time, successfully dismantling it as is faded away and the torches around them one by one going out as if to say that their purpose was no longer needed.

"Let us return to yon girl, and see that she is free." Helen said gladly, as Olsen picked up Jenny on his back and followed her out of the cave. No sooner had they left then they were greeted by Dureau, Mastema, Matthew and Lillianne who said that Jack and Alden had gone on ahead to check on Alice and be sure that she was able to leave her cell. When the seven of them returned, Alice was indeed free from her cell and healing Jack's wounds with her power that she could now freely use, instantly beginning to heal the wounds of her liberators when they came back.

"Alice, there's no need to do this. We have…"

"Nonsense! It's the least I can do for you who freed me from this darkness; I owe you all a great debt." She smiled, summoning vines from the ground which wrapped around their bodies in various places, healing the wounds to perfection and restoring their lost energy.

"Well isn't that just adorable." A voice said making everyone freeze: this voice sounded cold, almost as if it knew something that they didn't.

"You think that just because the four seal guards are dead that you can just leave the Abyss that easily?" It asked as Jenny activated her Eye of Arrows and looked all around in the dark, finding a man standing half way up the stump they were in with fire red hair, dark clothes and an eye patch over his right eye.

"You do know that I can see you. Why don't you come down here and show us who you really are!" Jenny called. The man simply scoffed, jumping from the ridge which was a good hundred feed from the ground, but landed with a whisper standing to his full height. Alice stood from tending Jack's internal injury, holding a hand out as vine sprang from the ground around the man, but was cut to shreds when the man drew his sword. Alice tried again to hit him with the vines, only to have the same thing happen.

"Aw, how sweet, you do remember me." He said, standing just outside of Alden's paw reach. Something about this man seemed familiar to Dureau, as if he had met him somewhere, but what was it? There was no one that he had ever met that came even close to this while he was still a general in the Black Mage's service; what was it about him that was so…

"_Wait a minute, it can't be."_ he thought, drawing a breath though his nose when a stray scent passed by. Intentionally, he stepped forward while keeping his hand on the butt of his mace.

"I was set here as a last defense should anyone try and take this monster." The man said with a growl, pointing to Alice.

"Monster?! How am I a monster?!" Alice demanded as the man smirked and looked her square in the eye.

"When you said 'yes' to the Transcendence of Life, Mudus Arbor. With that much power, anyone automatically becomes a monster. Think about it, when was the last time you looked someone in the eye and didn't know they feared you deep down in their hearts? What if I told you that everyone you met in your past life was afraid of you?" the man asked smoothly.

"The people of Ossyria don't fear me! They treated me no differently than any other human." Alice shouted, but the man simply shook his head before appearing beside Alice and grabbing her arm hard, drawing his sword and holding it forward. Alice tried to use a burst of her power, but something like the shackles drained away her, though it was nowhere near as strong. Dureau turned around and walked up to the point of his sword, looking intently at the man as he pulled Alice closer to him.

"It can't be you. It's been over 600 years, how can you still be alive?!" Dureau demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the man shouted in return, making Dureau almost seem crushed.

"Damian, it's me, your brother, Dureau." Something made the man flinch, turning his head to the side as if it were a tick until he grit his teeth and stopped it on his own.

"I have no such brother! Especially not one who is a demon or was a traitor of the Black Mage!"

"Don't you remember the house we used to have? It was just the three of us; you, me and mother all living together. I would help feed you or watch over you while mother was out, or when you first began to walk." As Dureau recounted events from their life, the man continued to look as though her were convulsing, twisting his head to the side and gritting his teeth to try and get things under his control. However in the process of that, he let Alice go and dropped the tip of his sword to the ground.

"I told you that I don't have a brother!" Damian shouted, rushing at Dureau who blocked the attack with his mace.

"Damian! What has happened to you?" Dureau shouted in his face, pushing him back with a hard swing.

"You go on ahead; I'll find some way to catch up while I hold him back."

"But master Dureau! He's your brother!" Mastema stated, putting a hand on his shoulder, but seeing that he was having trouble with his decision.

"JUST GO!" he shouted. Mastema backed away from him with the insistence of Alice who then folded her hands, engulfing the group in a bright and comfortably warm light when a huge vine sprouted from the ground and began shooting up to the hole they had dropped through before.

"Oh no you don't!" Damian shouted, leaping over Dureau and sticking his sword into the vine to catch a ride up until Dureau appeared before him, knocking the sword out of the vine and bringing him back down to the ground.

"I did not just have a battle with a giantess to free her only to have you put her back! If you intend to try and take her, you will face me, my brother." Again Damian felt something trying to surface in his mind, but was just as easily suppressed when he rushed at him, swinging his sword hard enough that it forced Dureau to the side.

"What's the matter demon?! I thought that you were supposed to be the most ruthless of the Black Mage's generals! What happened to that tenacity?!" He thundered. Dureau wanted more than anything to attack, but his opponent wasn't just some Black Wings disciple, it was his brother, and he was intentionally holding back even resorting to full on retreat as Damian kept coming at him harder and harder until Dureau could no longer stand to see what his brother had become and countered, locking weapons. Suddenly the look in Damian's eyes became softer for a quick moment as he pulled away and set the tip of his sword on the ground, shaking violently as though trying to prevent himself from doing anything while tears formed in his eyes.

"Big brother Dureau! Help me!" he shouted, before returning to the man that had appeared before and lunged at him, though still having tears streaming down his face as the two of them exchanged blows. Sparks splashed to life each time their weapons met while they rocketed from place to place within the stump. Damian stabbed forward, missing Dureau's flesh but cutting through his coat before he was struck by Dureau's fist.

Damian quickly righted himself, lunging at Dureau again only to have his sword deflected to the side and be hurled back once again. Getting to his feet once again, Damian decided that it was time to try a different tactic, wiping his eyes and rushing for him again. Acting as though he would swing one way until the very last moment, swinging from the opposite direction, blocked as Dureau anticipated the motion and attacked back with the lowest powered form if his Demon Lash. The impact of the attack seemed to give Damian a chance to wake up from his nightmarish personality.

"Dureau, is that really you?" He asked, shaking as though trying to stop his accursed attacks.

"How were you able to survive? I was there, I saw the flames." Dureau exclaimed.

"The Black Mage pulled me from the burning house after it had collapsed. I asked about mother, but she was already gone. And then he forcefully made me absorb his power, giving me this other personality that was instructed to capture and detain Alice." For a brief moment Damian lost his grip on himself, lunging at Dureau who blocked his attack again.

"Ever since then I wondered what happened to you." He managed to say, still fighting his need to attack and defeat him.

"Then cease this attacking! There are those who are powerful enough to reverse the effects of what the Black Mage has done to you!" Dureau answered, deflecting Damian's blows into the ground before shoulder ramming him and pinning him to the ground, kicking his sword from his hand.

"You think that just a mere reversal will work on this body?!" Damian said, reverting to his other self.

"You won't be leaving here alive either unless of course you can kill me!" Damian shouted, grabbing Dureau's leg and pulling him to the ground where he put him in a grappling hold. Dureau tried to break it, but despite his super human strength, Damian kept at it using his entire body weight against him.

"Dureau, please! Stop all this madness! I can't take it anymore!" Damian shouted after regaining himself.

"Damian, you can do it! You can overcome this darkness and return to the surface with me!"

"Not with what I've become. The darkness is too strong. But I am glad to have seen you one last time. Please, just make it all stop." Dureau hesitated, holding back his cries as he watch Damian loose himself again to the other personality and tighten his hold; in a blur Dureau swung Damian off him, getting to his feet and rushing him from behind, howling in grief as he swung his mace hard to meet with Damian's head.

The wet sound that followed left Dureau standing in silence long after the deed was done, breathing hard while watching the blood from his brother's body begin to run around his boots, dripping from his mace, collecting in a thick pool below. Something felt like it ran down his cheek for a moment, reaching up to see that it was his brother's blood when he looked down to see his shirt and coat covered in blood as well, closing his eyes tight before turning his head upwards and letting out a heart wrenching scream that no one heard.

* * *

For nearly an hour, the group waited for Dureau to return, pacing around the area or counting blades of grass in a given area until Olsen stood with a start.

"I'm going back down to help him." he announced until Alice appeared before him from watching the hole and stopped him.

"Please Guardian Ninja, don't go. This is something that he must do on his own."

"But what if he needs help?"

"The demon slayer doesn't require your help, Ninja. However I fear that he will need your support." She said cryptically, when the others began standing quietly, looking to the stump making Alice turn and see Dureau panting for breath, but standing with his shoulders slumped and his hair covering his eyes and his clothes covered in blood. Olsen knew that look, as did the others that were standing around him: there was no need for explanation. Matthew sighed respectfully, waving to Alice and the others to follow him up to the surface leaving, Mastema behind who had shrunk back down to her cat form, walking up to him as he fell to his knees.

"Dureau? Are you…" But Dureau said nothing, standing once again and walking away with purpose.

"We're leaving Mastema." He commanded with a wavering voice, walking quicker than usual until he tripped and fell to his hands and knees once again, slamming his fist to the ground hard enough that Mastema could feel the impact from where she was and quickly ran over to him. She was about to speak when she smelled blood, looking back to the mace on his belt and seeing that every facet and curve of the cold weapon was covered in blood.

"Forgive me… Damian…" Dureau sobbed, cradling his hand to hide the scrapes on his knuckles, his shoulders shaking with each heave of tears. Mastema quietly walked in front of him and did the only thing she could in her cat form, strangely shifting to her human form as she knelt before him and hugged his head to her chest, hiding away his sobs as he reached up and weakly embraced her.

* * *

Mir happily placed the flowers she had gathered into a vase, perking up the leaves slightly before turning to Eva who had come back from a day of training with Grendal and Gritto: the girl had a talent for the magical arts, just as her father did, not to mention that she possessed a few of the powers that Mir had, thanks to being a half dragon.

"Eva! You there?!" called a group of children as they passed by, knocking on her door, backing up slightly when Mir was the one to answer the door instead.

"Yes she's here. Eva, some of your friends are here to see you." she called. When Eva did come to the door, the children were beckoning for her to come with them to play a game of tag, which mainly involved playing as the Black Mage and the Guardians, something that had been invented 18 years ago by the children of that time. Eva looked up at her mother with pleading eyes which Mir could never refuse, smiling brightly and agreeing.

"Be sure to be back before sun down though Eva!" she called as Eva left.

"I will!" Eva called back. Mir leaned against the door frame, adjusting her wings slightly as she watched her disappear into the woods before closing the door.

"Now, what should I… AH!" Mir was suddenly overcome with an intense pain that threw her onto her bed making her back arch and every muscle in her body tense up. She tried to stand, but the pain only returned, greater this time and then faded away into a dull stinging sensation on her back. Thoughts raced through her mind about what would cause something like this to happen: maybe something had happened to Evan while he was out gathering herbs. She concentrated a moment, but the sensations she was getting from Evan were not those of an injured Life Force when another terrifying thought struck her.

"_No, please Minerva don't let it be that!" _she thought. Fearfully she went into their bathroom, pulling her dress from over her head and closing her eyes as she turned around shaking. But when she opened her eyes, she felt her heart being crushed in her very chest, slumping to the ground in tears. It felt like it had been hours until Evan came running in, calling for her everywhere and finding her curled up in the bath with tears streaming down her face.

"Mir, what happened?" Evan asked. Mir simply looked at him, her face distorting as tears welled up in her eyes again lunging at him and tackling him to the floor.

"Cosha O Hero-kai Ore Archen: It's returned!"


	19. Chapter 18: The End of and Era

**A brand spanking new chapter will be debuting next week! oh, And visit my profile for notes!**

Chapter 18: The End of an Era

Cygnus paced in small circles with excited anticipation for Alice's arrival into Edelstein, but at the same time was still concerned about her newly realized powers as Minerva's successor. And then there was the fact that her knights had begun treating her differently and that she no longer needed Tzarax; so many thing were changing that she wanted to remain the same ever since her powers were unleashed. She almost wished that her powers hadn't been fully released so that she wouldn't be treated so differently.

"Goddess Cygnus…"

"Eckhart! I told you that I don't want you to refer to me in that way! I am still only your empress!" Cygnus snapped, her cheeks flaring with embarrassment when she saw that Alice was also with him.

"My apologies Eckhart, but please do not call me goddess, it is something that I do not bare the right to have." Eckhart sighed disappointedly, nodding his understanding before turning to Alice and bowing his goodbye leaving the two of them to speak.

"What transpired here?" Alice asked, slightly confused.

"A recent battle has revealed that I am the heir of Minerva's power. And thus my knights have dubbed me 'goddess'. I'm sorry; I don't wish to impose personal issues to you. Welcome to Edelstein Alice Teawrite." Cygnus said with a smile, extending her hands in greeting.

"Thank you go… excuse me, Empress Cygnus. Tell me, why is it that you don't wish the title of goddess added to your name?" Alice asked as Cygnus led her to an area where the two of them could sit and talk around a small table where a pot of lavender tea steeped.

"I have always had a picture in my mind that despite being the Empress, that I can still be approachable, personable; not out of reach to the people of Ossyria. Replacing the title of Empress with Goddess makes me feel as though I'm becoming something beyond, out of reach to the people." Cygnus explained as Alice smiled.

"Empress; their calling you goddess is not elevating you to an unreachable status. They are showing their joy for once again having the goddess return to them. Minerva was only escalated to the status of one when she began living in the Palace City of Orbis. She may have taken on the title as such a bit too literally however thus, giving her the appearance of being unapproachable." Alice explained while Cygnus poured them a cup of tea.

"But I don't want to be disconnected from my people as she was."

"Then take the initiative and don't be. You may be her successor, but you are not Minerva. You are Cygnus, and nothing will ever change that fact, not even your inheritance of her power." Cygnus quietly set down her cup and laughed to herself, leaning back in her chair.

"I suppose I am only worried as to what this could mean for me, and for those around me." Cygnus replied, looking over to Tzarax as he slept just outside the room used for a throne.

"They always have, and always will be there as your companions. Give it time; don't try to live up to what Minerva was and make _your own_ mark on Ossyria as Goddess Cygnus." Alice's words gave Cygnus some peace of mind, despite the fact that she still felt uneasy about the future now that she was the one with the power to defeat Clytemnestra. But knowing Brilliance, he would never allow her to do something so reckless.

"_A knight to the very core."_ she thought when Mercedes and Phantom hurriedly came into the throne room.

"Lady Cygnus, I am sorry to disturb your meeting here, but you must come quickly. Lady Alice if you would join us as well, your assistance could be useful." Mercedes said.

"What's wrong?" Cygnus asked as she and Alice both followed after them, walking quickly through the streets of Edelstein.

"It's Evan and Mir; something is terribly wrong, but I don't know what." When they arrived, Dr. Kim and his assistants had already begun to monitor them through the complex machinery they had brought from Omega Sector before evacuating. As they neared, Alice slowed her pace to a solemn walk leaving Cygnus to canter to them alone, pushing through the small crowd that had gathered outside the little house to see the both of them laying side by side, clinging to each other's hand.

"Dr. Kim, what's…"

"It's that golden mark on Mir's back; it's returned with a vengeance. The only thing we're able to for them right now is to make them comfortable." Dr. Kim interrupted gravely, walking over to one of the machines and shutting down the monitor before grabbing a syringe of a clear liquid and setting it on the table next to Mir's bed.

"This can't be! They've gone through a Life Binding! They should be able to live for many more years!" Cygnus exclaimed just as Alice weaved through the crowd to stand next to her.

"So that explains the strange feeling coming from these two." She said, closing her eyes trying to prevent her tears from falling.

"Alice! You could do something! You could…"

"Cygnus! I may be the Transcendence of Life, but that doesn't give me the power to stop one's death." Alice scolded.

"You can't just let them die! They have a child!" Cygnus argued in return, making Alice shut her eyes tighter: a child's parents' dying was always hard, but this wasn't something that she could stop.

"Cygnus, listen to me. From what I can sense, Mir should have died nearly 20 years ago, but something happened to prevent that. What you just said about them performing a Life Binding explains it. Mir's time should have been back then, but with the binding it allowed Mir to live beyond what she should have. She and him both have been living on borrowed time: I surprised that they lived eve this long." Alice said, turning back to them and sniffling.

"What do you mean?" Cygnus pressed when both Mir and Evan tensed up in pain as the medicine began to wear off.

"This young man has been living for the both of them for quite some time; when a Life Binding is performed, it takes the life forces of both and combines them so that time is slowed to at least half for them, doubling their life span. When it is done with a Dragon while they are still quite alive, the life span is often quadrupled, if not quintupled because of a Human's stubborn will to live. This life binding was completed with only a small spark of life left within the dragon; it did indeed slow the process, but it was completed too late." Cygnus looked to the two of them just as the mark of Mir's back flashed, making both of them curl into a tight ball of pain.

"Isn't there anything you can do for them?" Cygnus asked, thinking about how Eva would take the news of her parent's death when she was still so young.

"No; it may be too early for this young man, but the time of this dragon has come. The Life Binding can be canceled, but that would only give the young man a few hours more at most and the dragon would die instantly." Clouds gathered overhead almost as if the sky were about to cry with them, turning the whole area a dull grey color. Behind them they could hear the sound of children laughing and playing as they ran back into town when Cygnus heard the voice of Eva just outside the crowd.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to mom or dad?" She asked. Cygnus did the best she could to dry her eyes off, turning to face her, still trying to hold back the tears that were in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" She asked innocently.

"Eva, come here darling, I have something important to tell you." Mir called. Slowly Eva walked through the maze of people, her face becoming worried as she approached when she saw the intravenous lines in Evan's and Mir's arms. To her young eyes, her mother who was normally so strong and alive appeared to be weak and gaunt, made worse by the poor lighting from outside as she stood beside her bed.

"Eva, darling; do you know what's happening?" Eva reluctantly nodded her head, not wanting to acknowledge that her mother and father were both fading from Ossyria right before her eyes.

"I'm sorry that it has to be this way. The years I had with you and your father were some of the best I've ever lived."

"No, no you can't be going away! You promised that we'd go the Cave of Life once this battle with Clytemnestra was all over!" Eva cried as Mir put her hand on the side of her head, wiping away her tears with her thumbs when she was overcome by a jolt of pain, the mark on her back flaring once again. Eva looked to Cygnus, and then looked over to Alice as if asking them to do something to keep them alive.

"Your Mother and father both love you very much Eva and there is nothing, not even death that can change that fact." Alice said, though she was well aware that such words would do little to hold back the child's grief.

"And what would you know about my parents?! Who are you anyway?" Eva asked angrily. Phantom was about to reprimanded her when Alice held up her hand and stopped him.

"I am Alice Teawrite." Eva dried her eyes slightly, thinking back a bit when some of her friends had said The Guardians had rescued some 'beautiful blond in a green dress', later finding out that she was the Transcendence of Life.

"You're the one The Guardians rescued! You can save my parents!" Eva said hopefully.

"No young one, I can't, not this time."

"But you're the Transcendence of Life! You can save them!" Eva argued, walking around Mir's bed to face Alice directly.

"I'm sorry child, but life is not something that should be extended for one's own convenience. Life is not meant to be eternal." Alice said sadly, putting a hand on her shoulder until Eva pushed it off and began beating on Alice's stomach.

"No you can't let them die you can't, you can't, you just can't!" she screamed over and over again as Alice hugged her firmly, waiting for her to calm slightly until Eva put her arms around her waist desperately.

"I wish that I could young one; my duty is to protect life while it exists. Your mother and father both have had a full life of watching you grow into a young woman, despite it being cut short. Death is hard on anyone, even the iron willed heroes have lost loved ones. I cannot change what is happening to them, so until they pass let their last memories be of them spending it with their daughter, their most prized of positions." Alice soothed. Further back in the crowd stood Mercedes, stubbornly crossing her arms and refusing to speak with Evan, even now in his final moments of life. Phantom had already spoken to him, telling of how he would be missed especially since he never really had a chance to know what Evan was really like.

"Why don't you go and at least talk to him?" Phantom urged, but Mercedes remained stubborn not moving from her stop or uncrossing her arms.

"Evan was never one for me to get to know. He had the audacity to say that he, a mere child, was the one to inherit the contract of Afrein and Freud and to call himself the Dragon Master. The only Dragon Master that ever lived _died_ on that day right next to me. On top of everything, he mated with his dragon servant and produced something that is neither dragon, human or even Nova for that matter!" Mercedes hissed, until Phantom turned her to him with an almost mournful look on his face.

"Mercedes, listen to yourself; you're trying to make Evan into something that he isn't. I know the relationship you had with Freud was special, but you're letting that get in the way of what _could_ be in hopes that what _was_ will just materialize." Phantom responded; yes he knew of Mercedes past, and frankly before he had met Aria, he was jealous of the late youth since it seemed to him that Mercedes actually harbored romantic feelings for him. Now that she had met Evan, she had always seemed distant of him as though waiting for him to just _become_ Freud, and so wondered where their own relationship was going if Mercedes still clung to her image of Freud.

Mercedes closed her eyes, taking in Phantom's words: he was right. She had been hoping ever since news that the Dragon Master was around that it was Freud and that he had somehow managed to live through those terrible wounds from the battle. But when instead she saw this union of dragon and human and that he fawned over her, it tore her heart in two to see that it was some other young man, and not the earnest, wise face of Freud.

"I just… I don't want to relive what happened at the temple, watching the life fade from Freud's eyes, it was heart wrenching. I can't go through that again." Mercedes answered as tears began to well up in her eyes. Phantom was about to reply when Heidrin walked up to them.

"Excuse me, Mercedes, Phantom. I hate to interrupt this but I fear I have something that requires your intervention." she said in a low voice, making Phantom sigh sadly and turn Mercedes away from the crowd that had gathered to hear what it was she had to say, leaving the sounds of Eva crying into Alice's elegant dress for a long while when the sound of dragon's wings flapped through the air. Cygnus turned and bowed when she saw Keminsolar and another dark blue dragon, nearly black, standing beside her.

"I felt the nearing of death for my Galsenmo o argaust. I have brought someone with me that wished to see you before you fell into golden slumber." Keminsolar said as she shrank down to her human form, holding out her arm to the dragon as it approached.

"Ati-mal mican-pa, aya offon D'Or, carlo genuk galsenmo lumiesu gesto ker Mir."

* * *

"You're saying that Hilla has been providing troops to protect Arkarium all this time?! Why weren't we told about her sooner?! We could have stopped her before she started sending troops to the Temple!" Phantom asked angrily as Heidrin told them of the situation.

"I just received word from the troops stationed at the Temple of Time this morning Phantom. Not only that, but we didn't know where the soldiers were coming from to begin with. If we can stop them at their source then they will no longer be a threat to us anymore."

"And where is that?" Mercedes asked coldly.

"The ancient lost city of Azwan in the Nihal Desert. King Abdulla has said the city appears to be rising from its sandy grave as each day, as a new part of this city is visible.

"Then let's go. I still have part of a score to settle." Phantom growled, pressing a button on his sleeve making the familiar whine of the Lumiere's turbines begin to come closer.

"Phantom, I thought that you had reconciled with your past between you and Aria and that Suu was the one who really killed her?" Mercedes questioned as Phantom stepped into the pod and held out his hand for Mercedes to board, angrily pulling down the lever and pulling them back up to the ship.

"I've accepted the fact that there was nothing I could have done differently to prevent her death. But the person that made her death possible is still alive, and she _will_ answer for what she's done, even if I must dig it out of her chest." Phantom growled.

* * *

"So, in a way, you are the Black Mage?" Lania asked taking a bite of the simple scones she had made while she and Luminous sat outside her house.

"Yes. I will try my hardest to keep this darkness within me under my control. I just hope you don't think that I've been abandoning you." Luminous said, his concerned eyes looking up at Lania from under his bangs, which had grown considerably since the last time he had seen her.

"I would never think that Luminous. I feel as if we both have a bond that goes far beyond the day we first met. I know that you will always be there for me." Lania smiled, placing a hand on his which he then turned over to allow it to rest within his own palm. As he stared at their hands for a moment, a feeling of dread washed over him: what if during his battles against those that remained of the Black Wings made him meet his end before Lania was told how he really felt about her? What if the chance that he tried to take in asking her to marry him never came again? What then?

With a firm pat on her hands, Luminous held up a finger and disappeared into the house, once again digging through the trunk next to their bed searching for the velvet box he had hidden within it after nearly killing Lania when the power of the Black Mage reared its ugly head from within him. It wasn't long until he found it, sighing deeply as he tossed it into the air and caught it with a swing of his hand, going back down the stairs but stopping just as he hit the landing, watching her as she folded her legs under her and looked to be studying a bright lily growing in the small flowerbed just outside the door. For a moment Luminous' heart waivered: should he really ask something like this when so much uncertainty lay ahead for him? Would he really ever be able to control this darkness within himself to keep what happened to her from happening again, or even worse, to their children should time allow?

"_Just kill her and get it over with!_" A voice growled within his mind.

"_No! I will never allow myself to hurt her again!_"

"_Just kill her now and be done with it! You'll never have this woman hold you back ever again! _"

_"I need her to hold me back!"_

_"She's the reason that you can't fully control your power! Just kill her and all control will be yours! "_

_"I SAID NO! "_ Luminous mind roared, finally going silent against his darker self.

"_That's right, she is my anchor, my check to make sure that I keep my power under control. For her sake if nothing else, I will maintain my power. _" He thought, taking a deep breath and walking out, calling for Lania to come to him. As she did, she felt as though he was nervous about something, but what she couldn't tell; the only thing that she knew for sure was that there was something in his left hand that he tried to hide.

"Yes?" She asked innocently. For another moment, Luminous faltered as doubts began to rise again but were pushed aside as he cleared his mind and focused exclusively on Lania's lovely face.

"I have watched to you grow from the little girl that found me into this beautiful young woman that you are today, and our relationship has grown into the bond that we share today."

"Luminous, I…"

"Please Lania, let me finish. I tried to ask you this many times before, and came close once. But then the power within me rose up and nearly killed you, and I tried to stay away from you thinking that I could control it on my own. But I can't. You are the reason I am able to keep this… thing, inside me under control. You are my strength, my reason, and my will; I don't know if this is the right thing do or not, but I ask you, Lania. Will you be my bride?" Luminous asked as he knelt to the ground, opening the small box in his hand and holding it up to her in deadly uncertain anticipation. Lania seemed happily surprised, taking the small box from his hands and looking more closing at the ring, watching as the sun was refracted through the gem atop it, spreading a rainbow of color over her thumb.

"Luminous, you've never had to ask. My heart was destined to be yours from the beginning. I don't know where this feeling comes from, but I knew that you were the one for me, even as a young child when I found you. But to answer your question, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" Lania smiled as Luminous stood, leaning in close to meet her lips in a joyous, yet quiet kiss among the ferns and trees that surrounded them, suddenly blowing to the sides as the Lumiere cruised to a stop overhead with Phantom swinging down to the ground in his drop pod.

"Luminous come on, we have a mission to stop Hilla."

"The Necro General of the Black Wings?!" Luminous asked in surprise.

"Yes her, now get in, there's not much time to waste!" Phantom ordered. Luminous looked back to Lania for a moment who nodded and smiled after Luminous quickly put the ring on her, grabbed his staff and rode the pod back to the ship which was already turning and beginning its flight towards Ariant. Once aboard, Luminous found that The New Guardians were on board as well.

"I've heard very little about this General Hilla; is she as dangerous as she sounds?" Latimer asked.

"No… she's worse." Mercedes replied, silencing them all for the long trip until they were able to touch down in Ariant which was now a flourishing tourist town; nothing like the broken down near ghost town that The New Guardian's parents had told them of. The greetings of the villagers had to be pushed aside as they were escorted into the King's Palace, bringing them over to the balcony of the throne room allowing them to see the large spire looming in the distance and the obelisk that had begun to peek through the sands.

"It started about the time that Clytemnestra brought Victoria back to Ossyria. And every day since then it has steadily become taller to what you see before you." Abdulla explained.

"Why weren't we told about this sooner? Hilla is one of, if not _the_ most dangerous of the remaining Generals of the Black Wings." Mercedes asked, feeling redundant when Phantom asked the same question of Heidrin.

"There was no reason to worry until we began to see undead soldiers outside of the village. We reported this to Heidrin who then told us, based on our description of them, that they were the same exact soldiers reinforcing Arkarium's position at the Temple of Time." Luminous huffed hard and was about to make a move to the king when Dumia put up her hand and stopped him from moving, having left her Mecha on the Lumiere for the moment.

"Easy there tiger; we're here now, and we can take care of it." She said, holding him back for a moment until he relaxed and backed up, roughly pushing Dumia away from him. Once they were given a few water skins and a sled for them ride on, Dumia powered up her Mecha and pulled the sled through the sands, speeding over the endless sea of gold for the dark spire that told of ill tidings.

* * *

Hilla smirked as she looked down from the top of the spire, holding her hands to a water-like window of her room and spreading them apart, enlarging the image of the Heroes and of 'The New Guardians' speeding over the sand towards her empire, _her_ empire. Casually she walked away through the halls, letting the enlarged portion of the window spring back to its normal tension before flicking her fingers at the skeleton soldiers slumped on the wall and standing them to attention.

"Be a dear and bring me something cool to drink." She ordered in a silken voice. The skeletons clicked their teeth together as though trying to speak before walking off with spears in hand, clattering down the hall as she lay down on the black and gold velvet chaise lounge in her room with a dissatisfied sigh. Thinking back over her life up to this point, it wasn't exactly what she had envisioned for herself: she had wanted the people of Azwan to adore her as they always had.

Even the king himself fawned all over her as head Shamaness, showering her with lavish gifts and proclaiming his love for her time and time again. Of course she wasn't interested in 'love' one bit at first, but she pretended which allowed her to get very close to the king, so close in fact that if it hadn't been for her sister Shamaness Medina, she would have easily been awarded the throne as queen. And then she began to be around the king more often, finding that there were little nuances that she had never seen before, slowly finding that her act of loving the king was becoming real.

"_Why did it all go so wrong?_" she asked herself as the Skeletons walked back into the room, their unfeeling bodies holding out the platter to her with a large goblet of cool water. She took it, and thanked the skeletons which fell to the ground in a pile of dusty bones rather than standing around her, admiring her every move, word and look. No this was not the life she had envisioned for herself; it was better; much, _much_ better.

"_But am I simply deceiving myself?_" she wondered, drinking down the water and setting the goblet aside, reclining back while she waited for the would be conquerors to come to her, that is, if they could get through her nearly endless army of the necro-soldiers, consisting of people from the streets and barracks of Azwan which now included her newest of pets, the Blood Hyena.

* * *

"I don't mean to sound rude your majesty Keminsolar, but who is this? I must ask your forgiveness since I don't speak your language." Cygnus replied, bowing slightly to the dragon before them.

"This is D'Or. She is what you humans would call Mir's great niece." Keminsolar responded, turning to Mir as she took a ragged breath, feeling sorrow for her as she would a relative.

"But how is that even possible? Mir is the last of her kind." Evan pointed out, propping himself on his elbows and putting an arm around Eva to comfort her as she stood by his bed.

"Mir is the last of the Onyx Dragons _here_ in Ossyria, but the Onyx race has been living strong in Oldesta for nearly 700 years. I had the honor of knowing her genuk galsenmo before she passed into golden slumber." Mir held her hand out, taking Eva's into her own and gently squeezing it, but quickly let go when a stab of pain shot through her and Evan for a few moments as the mark on her back glowed through her grey dress.

"I never knew." Mir responded, tired from what the pain had been putting her through in the last day.

"What could bringing D'Or here at this time do? There is nothing that can be done for Mir and I at this point; Alice said so herself." Evan asked, wheezing as the pain slowly died away, preparing himself for the next wave.

"I have been made aware that while we dragons live among you, the relationship you have with us is minimal, and from what I have been able to glean from the ancient texts of Ossyria, Afrien and Freud were the ones who mutually tried to bridge the gap between the races. You and Evan were the ones chosen centuries later to continue that mission, albeit slightly less productive than your ancestors."

"I never knew this was what they had… HYA!" Evan cut his sentence short when another powerful wave of pain pounded away at both him and Mir, locking their bodies into a fetal position for a few seconds, panting for breath after the wave passed.

"What I've never understood is why it was the Onyx race of dragons that was chosen for the pact." Evan said, uncurling his sore body once again as he looked to Keminsolar.

"The Onyx are a peculiar race among the dragons; normally, we dragons are born with the ability to manipulate and harness the energy of a given element. However they use an energy stemming from their own life force called 'Econe o atuk' to manipulate the elements around them, similar to that of what you humans call mana. This is what made Afrein and Freud such a powerful force, for they were able to link their mana together and manipulate it in tandem, both their own and each other's." Keminsolar explained as Mir pushed herself up into a seated position using her tail to steady herself, speaking in a weary voice as her energy was quickly fading.

"But why bring D'Or? What purpose would it serve?" she asked before falling back to her bed, exhausted from the motion of getting up. Eva ran to her side, grabbing her hand in fear that her mother would suddenly leave, especially since Alice wasn't doing anything to help them: in her young mind, she could care less if Alice was even alive. D'Or moved closer, concern on her face while a large, hot tear ran a trail down the side of her jaw.

"Galsenmo o argaust…" But she was stopped when Mir held up her hand, stopping her from saying anything.

"The reason I brought D'Or here was to transfer the contract from you to her and your daughter Eva. She will be the new Dragon Master that will, with the help of D'Or, bring a greater understanding between our races." Keminsolar said softly, kneeling down between the cots and setting hand on Eva's, trying to comfort her in this time of distress.

"Not only will it be that, it will also serve as a memorial to you by carrying on your legacy through your daughter." Eva looked up to Keminsolar, her eyes wet with tears when Mir and Evan both tensed in another bout of pain.

"Mayak Shenuk! Colares archen ati klo-tani!"

"Offon azte D'Or, mo lumicore o deshe ati-ahgo." Keminsolar said in a soft voice, but firm, making D'Or nod her head and step back slightly.

"But, how will I know what to do without them here to guide me?" Eva protested, gripping Mir's hand tighter.

"D'Or will be there to guide you. She is not just a pact member Eva; she is much more than that." With great reluctance, Eva agreed, letting go of Mir's hand as Keminsolar escorted her to Cygnus and Alice.

"Do either of you know where the original contract Minerva made is?" She asked, placing her gentle hands on Eva's shoulders; she could feel this girl's heart about to break and if this contract was to be completed, it needed to be done before Evan and Mir passed on into the Golden Slumber.

"Minerva never wrote the original spell down unfortunately. However I believe that Cygnus here knows it." Alice replied, holding a hand to her. Cygnus' eyes went wide; how could she know something that she had never read and her only knowledge of the contract was through the history written in the old texts.

"I see, we must work quickly then." Keminsolar said with a sad smile, escorting Eva into place before D'Or.

"Alice! I don't know the spell that…"

"Trust your heart Cygnus. Just take your time and the words will come to you." Alice reassured. Cygnus felt perturbed, but took a hard breath as she walked to where D'Or and Eva stood facing one another. Unsure of what needed to be done, Cygnus held her hands up and closed her eyes, slowing her breathing which in turn slowed her heart while thoughts began flowing through her mind that she never knew she had, filtering through until the words began to form in her mind as if she had performed this very spell hundreds of times before.

She spoke in a soft tone, both Eva and D'Or glowing with a faint light as they began to hover. The mark of the contract formed so long ago began appearing in mid air, sending down beams of light from where it hovered to both D'Or's forehead and to Eva's hand. Evan and Mir both did the best they could so sit up and watch since they themselves never had a formal ceremony as this. But as it drug on, Mir's strength began to waiver when another strong pulse of pain shot through her, curling her body into the fetal position as did Evan, both reaching for each other's hand, gripping tightly as though they were frightened of what lay ahead for them both.

The light around D'Or and Eva began to crescendo, blinding all that were there making them have to cover their eyes. One of the bright orbs began to shrink in size until it was similar in size to the other, both of them drifting to the ground where they quickly faded to reveal Eva and another tall, athletic woman kneeling on the ground, her dark wings folded around her and her dark scaled tail curled around her feet. Atop her head was a mess of short black hair complimented by the four gold markings pointing forward to her nose on her cheeks. Eva opened her eyes, feeling a strange new presence in her mind as well as a feeling of power welling up within her, looking down to her hand when a glow caught her eye.

She wiggled her finger in her ear for a moment, trying to get the annoying ringing out of it she thought was caused by the light. But as the ringing continued, she realized that it wasn't her ears, but was in fact the high pitched horror of the heart monitors hooked up to Mir and Evan blaring their fatal warning. Eva turned around, color draining from her face as she saw those standing around their cots hanging their heads in grief: Eva's breath began to come in short shaky wheezes, feeling as if her chest were being crushed until she felt the strong arms of D'Or wrap around her shoulders and hold her close, pulling her wings around the both of them.

"Alice please tell me they aren't…" but Alice only shook her head, closing her eyes and bowing in respect. Eva grit her teeth hard, reaching up to D'Or's forearms and holding on for dear life when she felt the quivering breaths from her as D'Or too shed tears. She pulled her arms tighter around Eva seeing that both of them were still holding hands between the cots despite the life having left their bodies when Eva began to fight and scream to try and get away from D'Or's hold.

"Mother! Father! No you can't, not yet! Not while I'm still… NOOOOOOO!

* * *

Dumia slowed her mech to a walk as they finally were before the giant obelisk standing over the sands allowing the others to get off, but when Patricia's feet hit the sand, something made her stop and look to the west for a moment.

"Pat? What's wrong?" Vondra asked.

"Nothing, I just thought I heard something." She mumbled, unable to shake the strange feeling of something missing in her life, pushing it aside to focus on the mission at hand. The seven of them walked through the high double gates, being weary around every corner for anything that might jump out at them and attack. For what seemed like hours, they searched through the eerie halls, checking every corner and investigating every room until Luminous stumbled upon a balcony that overlooked what appeared to be a broken down city. Stone viaducts and towers stood everywhere, decorating the landscape for almost as far as the eye could see, complimented by the drifts of sand piled into corners and against buildings along the main roads.

"How did this city sink in the first place? It's huge!" Dumia commented, staying back within the building for fear of risking the balcony breaking under the mech's weight.

"Time buried it. Hilla was the one who did this, sacrificing her entire city as an offering to the Black Mage." Phantom hissed in response, tightening his grip on his cane.

"This was her home? What happened?" Vondra asked.

"That would more than likely be my fault." A voice called making them all turn in a blur of movement to see the hazy image of a young woman standing before them dressed in a roman toga.

"Who are you?" Mercedes asked, lowering her guns after realizing that she didn't have the power at this point to hurt a spirit.

"My name is Medina. I was a sister shameness under Hilla while Azwan still lived." Latimer stepped forward, putting his crossbow on his back with questioning eyes.

"What happened here that you would say it's your fault? Hilla was the one that destroyed Azwan, not you." He asked. Medina bowed her head and shook it, her long hair waving back and forth with each shake.

"I suppose I should say that I am not the one who destroyed Azwan, but I do feel responsible. Many centuries ago, Azwan was a prosperous kingdom that was established shortly after the fall of the Shareneian Empire. When the rumors of the Black Mage were beginning to thicken, I was already one of the highest Level Shamaness. The only one more powerful than I was my sister Shamaness, Hilla; she was adored by her people and sought after by many men, including the king, mostly because of her beauty which some of us were jealous of. Most of my sisters were more so jealous in a playful sense, however I let that feeling brew into hatred towards her and began to use any means I could in breaking the bond between the king and her, for I had developed feelings for the king myself." she said, folding her hands before her and lowering her head, continuing after taking a breath to calm herself.

"He would never acknowledge them, much like Hilla refused to acknowledge his feelings for her, but still he persisted, even allowing her access to his palace which was something that no shaman or shamaness had even been allowed before. This only fueled my hate of Hilla, until one day I could no longer stand it and told the king that Hilla had planned to kill him and take his throne as her own. The king immediately stripped her of her title as head Shammaness and exiled her from Azwan. The king was heartbroken and so I used that opportunity to finally enable myself to have the king all to myself, who after some time acknowledged my feelings for him." Again, Medina sighed, shaking her head and looking out a window before finishing her tale.

"However Hilla returned to Azwan shortly after that; no longer as the beautiful Shamaness we all knew and loved, but as a dark harlot, necro-enchantress. The shaman tried to hold her off, but the new power she commanded was too great and we were quickly reduced to a mountain of bodies with Hilla standing atop them. She swiftly and heartlessly killed the king, leaving myself for last, revealing to me that her original plan _was_ to overthrow the king, but that she had begun to harbor feelings for him and was going to abandon her plan. I begged for her to forgive me and spare those that were still alive within Azwan and for a moment I thought that she would, but she only smiled and said that it was too late. What I am here is now only a small part of what remains after that fateful day." Medina explained, sighing heavy as she turned her eyes up to her silent audience.

"We're here to stop her by any means needed, even if it means ending her life." Patricia soothed, holding out her hand trying to place it on her shoulder.

"I know; with what she's done in the past I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't stop until her heart did." Medina replied with a sad smile, motioning for them to follow her as she floated over to a doorway that led to the main spire near the center of the city.

"This path will take you to what used to be the throne room, the place that Hilla now occupies herself. Be safe." Medina urged, disappearing in a cloud of ethereal vapors and leaving them to the path. Dumia ran a final system's check of her Mech while Patricia summoned her Dark Aura and Latimer activated his Eye of Arrows, all of them having a fern-like design glow around their eyes. Stepping out onto the path was unsettling enough, especially with the strange wind that blew over them. But when the wind passed, a strange thick violet fog rolled in, seeping into the ground, walls and piles of sand that lined their path making skeletons dressed in heavy battle gear and weapons come crawling out of them, the first of which charging forward.

Luminous jumped and spun around, swinging his staff forward as a blast of light erupted from the top of it reducing the skeletons to piles of broken bones. Mercedes and Latimer charged ahead, taking aim at each of the skeletons that came at them breaking them to pieces, while Dumia took aim with her Gatling guns, cutting through a charging platoon with ease and crushing the rest under foot. Part way through the village though, Phantom and Vondra hit some kind of invisible wall that hurled them to the ground hard enough to make them bounce.

"Vondra!" Latimer called, running to her side to cover her as she pulled herself from the ground.

"I'm alright, just a little dizzy." She answered, calling to Phantom who confirmed his well being just the same. Patricia held her wand up as mana darkened around it, creating a blackened saw blade that when she hurled it forward, another sprung from it connected to chains, parting the seas of skeletons and dragging them near before launching into a volley of hits in a purplish blur. With a flash of movement, Vondra zipped through the area, cutting through the multitude of enemies that surrounded them where a small hot pink flame lingered on each of the cuts before summoning the katana form of her cloak, sweeping it in a hard right unleashing a wall of flames that incinerated everything standing in the way.

Phantom looked around himself for a moment, closing his eyes and activating the spell within his left eye, seeing that the barrier they had hit was tied to a statue standing in the middle of the rotunda they had entered. Canceling the spell he reached into the card holder on his belt searching for one of the ability snatchers. Finding one, he put the deck back and waved his hand over it, canceling the ability within it and holding up the card so that it surrounded Vondra's image. He followed her as she moved, waiting for an ability that she used that would allow him to attack the statue from a distance when she jammed her daggers into the ground, the image freezing onto the card and slipping into the holding vambrace on his left arm. A pulse of mana swam down his arms into his hands, creating two identical daggers in them as he turned to the statue and jammed the daggers into the ground, but only made the chain scythes spark off the stone base of the statue.

"What are you doing Phantom?! We're got bigger problems than a statue at the moment!" Mercedes called, blasting a skeleton that had snuck up behind him.

"That thing is keeping us from moving forward! If we don't do anything about it, we aren't going to get to Hilla!" Phantom called, once again using the ability he had 'borrowed' from Vondra over and over again, doing little more than scratching the stone.

"Step outta the way!" Dumia demanded as the chest of her mech folded out with the heavy caliber main Gatling, squatting down as she activated the siege mode. With a thunderous drone, the gun blasted the statue, taking out chunks of stone with each shot until the statue crumbled into rubble and the barrier winked out. Luminous was about to charge forward, but instead was met with another wall of skeleton soldiers, but this time some of the soldiers were armed with heavier armor as well as some giant dog-like creatures.

"Dumia, Please tell me you're going to have enough ammo for this next wave of enemies." Patricia asked, mana and a small amount of amethyst crystal power fizzing at the end of her wand.

"No, I don't think so. I'm already down to 45% of my load."

"What about the Cloak? Can't you make a gun that uses some crystal power instead?" Latimer asked.

"I don't know. I've only tried making a shield form like dad, but I suppose I could try." She said, looking over the numbers glaring at her in the HUD, showing her left arm having only 200 rounds and her right having 468. She would have to try something, or else she would be reduced to using her fists and sheer physical force.

* * *

Claudine felt absolutely drained: she had been kept in this semi-clean cell of hers for nearly two months, forced to choose who would be the next to die in Clytemnestra's sick way of trying to get her to tell where the remaining seals were. She jerked her head up when Clytemnestra came bursting through the iron door and walked with a seeming sense of purpose up to her, grabbing the last of the frosted glasses from the platform Claudine was on and pulling the small scrap of paper from within it.

"Well, it appears this last job was done for me by nature itself." She said with an agitated voice, turning the piece of paper around, revealing that Evan's name was written on it.

"What do you mean? Evan and Mir are still alive." Claudine stated through the fog in her mind from being fed only enough water to keep her alive.

"I suppose that now is a good a time as any." Clytemnestra hissed, grabbing Claudine's hair and yanking her head up to meet her steely gaze.

"The Dragon master and his prized pet are dead. They died after Mir's golden death mark returned yesterday night. Now it appears that their daughter is the one to carry on their legacy; perhaps I can kill them instead."

"No, no more killing. I'll tell you… I'll tell you where the remaining seals are." Claudine whispered, making Clytemnestra grin in sick satisfaction, knowing that this fortress of a mind finally bent to her will.

"Then tell me so we can make this tiresome game end."

"You've had the seal stones in your possession all this time. Every time a seal was found, I took it and merged them together with my body with the help of Advance Master Grendal and High Elder Gritto." Clytemnestra shook her head slowly, letting go of her hair and standing back a bit.

"How can you have five sealss within your body? You aren't big enough to contain that many crests; two maybe, but five? You are doing nothing more than wasting my time with this banter."

"Are you willing to risk it by letting such a golden opportunity pass you by?" Claudine smiled, calling out in pain when the chains hauled her from the ground to an uncomfortable standing position allowing Clytemnestra to put her hand on her upper chest, sending a painful pulse of dark power through her body causing her skin to become transparent and reveal the seals crammed within her body.

"Clever; sacrificing your own body to keep these hidden from me." Clytemnestra growled, pulling her hand away and holding her arms wide as dark power began to build behind her, forming four more pairs of hands.

"You still need me." Claudine whispered just as Clytemnestra lunged at her but stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"If you try to remove these stones without the right spell, which only Grendal and Gritto know, all you'll pull out are my organs and the seals will be lost for all eternity." Black power began seeping from Clytemnestra as she clenched her fists so tight that her nails dug into her skin, drawing her blood while the frame appeared behind her, glowing a sick shade of bluish brown. Whispers began rising all around them in a deafening hiss while the power coming from her made her hair float as her eyes shone a strange pinkish red color.

Claudine dragged her head up, taking a look at the power that was rising behind Clytemnestra which had taken on the form of someone dressed in a black hooded cloak with red glowing eyes. In a fit of rage, Clytemnestra screamed out as loud as she could, shooting some of the apparatus into the stage below Claudine, slicing through her arms and legs as though she were purposely avoiding her trunk, shaking as she spoke.

"Then I will send you back, and you will remove the seals from your body and deliver them to me or else I will wipe Edelstein from the face of Ossyria, permanently." Just as she finished her sentence, Clytemnestra was overcome with a migraine-like headache, bringing her to her knees as the second presence within her mind felt like it was trying to tear its way out of her body through her head. In a burst of power from the apparatus, the pain ceased and the presence was once again brought under her control.

"It seems like _she_ doesn't want you to." Claudine laughed, only to be met with a stiff backhand across her face.

"That was not a threat, it was a promise. Now I will send you back, and once you have removed the crests from your body, bring them to the edge of Edelstein or I _will_ make good on my promise." Clytemnestra growled as she hovered into the air, her platinum blond hair becoming engulfed with black flames, dissipating from around her as white flames. For a few moments, Claudine felt her body wrapped in weightlessness, and then was dropped to the ground just outside the half rebuilt garage of the Edelstein High Guard.

"Claudine? Claudine!" Checky called, jumping out of his mech and running over to her, cradling her in his arms, looking her over and calling for a medic with an excited and relieved voice.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't able to come for you. I thought that I had failed after all this time… I'm sorry…" Checky whispered over and over again as Claudine patted his arm in forgiveness, but her mind still weighing heavily with the words that Clytemnestra had spoken to her.

* * *

With a final swing of Phantom's cane sword, the last of the skeleton army fell to the ground in a pile of dusty bones, allowing him to ceremoniously slide the sword back into the sheath of his cane.

"How is everyone doing?" Mercedes called as she slowed her breathing and clipped her guns to her belt, looking down at the scrape on the back side of her forearm.

"I'm out of bullets, and I need a minute for the drive engine to cool a bit before going on." Dumia called, sliding back the top of the cockpit and setting the mech into stand-by mode.

"The worst I think we've got as far as injuries go is this." Vondra said, holding up her arm to show them all the four scrapes she received, drying blood in the small hairs on her skin.

"What about mana, how is everyone doing?" Luminous asked, suddenly aware that his own reserves were a bit lower than he first anticipated.

"I'm just about out." Vondra called: she had been using her mana in tandem with her crystal chip, allowing her to fight much longer than she normally could, but the use of the crystal's power used up a lot more energy than she was aware of until it was too late.

"I'm still alright; I've used up all my bolts though so I'll run out of mana pretty quick from here on out, even with the use of the Crystal power." Latimer called, soon joined by the other as well who essentially gave the same prognosis for themselves.

"Alright, here's what we're going to try. Latimer and Vondra are going to surround Hilla on her left and right, while Dumia leads a charge from the front; use as many physical attacks as you can since we're all low on mana. While you three draw her out into the middle of the room, the rest of us will take flanking positions all around her. When I give the signal, all of us will attack her at once with everything we've got and hopefully, it will be enough mana to do the job." Dumia explained, drawing a mock map in a pile of sand. Everyone nodded their understanding of the plan, taking the few moments to take a sip of an Orange Peel Potion before beginning the trek up the spire to the top floor where Hilla was laying down on her chaise lounge seemingly asleep.

Phantom waved two fingers forward to Latimer and Vondra who snuck in beside her, both of their weapons ready, hiding behind a statue on either side waving that they were ready. Phantom looked back to Dumia who nodded her own ready and waved his hand forward. With a roar the Mech tore through the front of the throne room and charged for Hilla, still asleep despite the roar of Dumia's engines or the sound of crumbling stone allowing Vondra and Latimer to both leap from their hiding spot. Vondra flashed past her, splitting open her back while Latimer sailed over head, firing off arrows that pinned her body to the lounge before Dumia ran up to her and slammed her fist down on her turning the lounge into splinters. Upon pulling her fist back up, Dumia was surprised to see that instead of Hilla's smashed body, it was a skeleton that had been dressed in her clothes instead.

"My my, what violence we show. I was rather fond of that lounge you know." Hilla's voice laughed from somewhere in the room.

"_Oh no! It was a trap!_" Mercedes thought when she and the others standing outside were forcibly pushed into the throne room by more of the skeleton soldiers, sometimes even jabbing their spears into their backs to keep them from turning and find where Hilla was.

"You all made a valiant effort in reaching me, and for that I must congratulate you. Ever since I have been awakened from that lovely suspension bath, I thought it would be prudent to raise Azwan back to its former glory; guarding Arakarium is a mere exhibition of the power that I possess. But now your quest must end here." Hilla said with a smile in her voice.

"What do you hope to gain by Bringing Azwan back from its grave?" Luminous asked, looking for a way to not only get past the guards surrounding them, but also trying to listen to where Hilla might be hiding.

"When Clytemnestra activates the World Cannon, everyone and everything here will be reduced to bones, allowing me the power to control and endless legion of the undead! They're going to need a place of dwelling when not in the thrall of battle."

"Are you still trying to close the wound dealt to you by Medina?" Mercedes asked with calm tone, almost understanding her actions.

"What does she have to do with it?" Hilla hissed.

"She told us of what she did to you, and that she feels responsible for turning her into what you are." Hilla appeared to them in a cloud of swirling dark mana, setting her staff on the ground with a sharp metal clap.

"Medina is a traitorous piece of filth that will do what it takes to gain power! I simply showed her what it means to gain _true_ power and let her see what it was that she helped create! In a way I am thankful for her ripping out my heart, since I no longer have to worry about hurting anyone!" Hilla screamed, but as she talked, Phantom saw a small tear forming on the corner of her eye and for a brief, fleeting time he felt sorry for her until the memory of Aria's death came back to him.

"And so you continued on by killing Aria didn't you?!" Phantom roared, drawing his can sword and swatting down the soldiers that were before him.

"I thought it was already explained to you that Aria was killed by Suu, not me. However I did insist that both Suu and Orca come with me in case your precious Aria should try anything." Hilla replied, almost happily while walking with a slow, sensuous step towards him.

"You are just as guilty as they are! Attack!" Phantom yelled as they all rushed the guards, overpowering them and running for Hilla who laughed and began teleporting around the throne room in bursts of mana while hurling spells at them. Latimer transformed his cloak into the Air cannon form, sending less powerful shock waves ripping through the air following after Hilla while Vondra did the best she could to keep up with her appearances, missing her only by a bit each time.

Patricia cleared her mind, listening and feeling out the rifts as they would open and close, using their feeling to determine where the next would appear. Dumia shut off all things that were using power unnecessarily, pouring all of it into her tracking HUD to see where it was that Hilla was going to be, but nothing she did worked. Patricia finally caught on to where one of the rifts was about to open, teleporting to it in a burst of mana and beginning to swing her wand down hard as a trail of dark colored mana blazed from it, landing on Hilla's shoulder and sending her straight into the ground. In a matter of moments Phantom and Luminous were already before her, Phantom slashing at her as fast as he could being matched strike for strike as Hilla spun her staff in a whirl of color and light.

As Phantom swung wide, Hilla swept his feet from under him and knocked him to the ground before holding her staff forward to meet the beam of light released by Luminous, dark and light energy fizzing in the air where the two powers met. Mercedes and Latimer flanked her, firing a quick stream of arrows to box her in from the sides. With a calm grin she held her free hand to the side, flicking her fingers upward and summoning her solders who took the arrows and were reduced to broken bones. Dumia ran up behind Luminous, jumping into the air over him and transforming her hands into the jet powered hammer fist, slamming down hard enough on Hilla to crack the floor below them just after Luminous stopped his assault.

But Hilla teleported back and in Dumia's recovery, began casting powerful attack spell that was ricocheted in another direction when Patricia teleported in front of her with her Gaia held up before her.

"Well done, you'd make a fine addition to the Black Wings, if you had the heart for it!" she hissed, holding her arms up as another more powerful spell began to form.

"She's not going anywhere!" Dumia shouted, holding up her fist as flames blazed from the wrist and her fist shot forward with Vondra atop it who used its momentum to propel her faster, flashing past Hilla and skidding to a stop on the marble floor then running back at her. However Vondra miscalculated, forgetting about Dumia's fist until it slammed into Hilla, dropping to her knees and flattening herself against the floor as the fist flew over her, crashing into the wall. Just before it hit, Hilla teleported above to the ceiling, releasing arcs of dark mana obliterated with a blast of dark power from Luminous, his left eye blazing an intense red light as he turned to her.

"I'll show you what true power is like!" he growled as the darker forces within him began to take over, flashing to her in a blaze of darkened mana, spreading his arms and legs wide as portals opened around Hilla, shooting out dark chain spears.

"_It can't be! The master was the only one with this ability!_" Hilla thought, before teleported out of the center of the converging spears only to feel a jolt of dark power shoot through her as an enormous orb sat behind her, paralyzing everything within its reach. When the orb finally dispersed, a four pointed square began appearing behind Luminous while chains rose from the floor, swirling around him making markings on the left side of his face and left arm begin to glow with a dull red light.

"This is what true power feels like Hilla! You are nothing but a sham!" Luminous hissed as the floor under Hilla exploded into a huge seal with dark flames roaring to life around her, another seal of the same kind appearing above her. Hilla's scream of pain was matched only by the roar of dark energy that resonated between the two seals, leaving Hilla with bruises and lacerations on her entire body, blood dripping down from her brow fast enough that it began to pool beneath her. Phantom walked up to Luminous, putting a hand on his shoulder and was surprised when Luminous quickly looked back to him.

"That's enough Luminous. There's no need to torture her." Phantom urged.

"No, it's not enough. You heard what Medina said: she will only stop when her heart does, and her heart is still beating. You said yourself that you still have a score to even out." A silver flash burst from Luminous as his entire being seemed to resonate with a silver light all around him.

"And I intend to see that through." He snarled, shrugging Phantom's hand from his shoulder and walking with slow purpose to Hilla, holding up the end of his staff as though it were a sword. On either side of it began to form two swords, one feeling as though it were made of odious magic, the other exuding a calming but justice oriented light, both of the swords merging over the staff as both their light waved in the air as flames.

"Luminous, no this isn't the way!" Mercedes called as he walked up to Hilla and began hovering into the air, pointing the sword downwards to her back.

"And thus ends an era, before it even begins." Luminous said in a dark voice, driving the sword downwards as he began to fall.

"LUMINOUS DON'T!" Vondra called, her voice at that moment sounding so hauntingly familiar to Lania that it woke Luminous from his rage filled strike, managing to direct the sword to the side and slam into the ground through Hilla's skirt between her legs, light from both sides exploding from the contact point while the swords dissipated. Hilla stared in wide eyed terror as Luminous calmed his breathing and relaxed, staring at her hard for a moment before straitening his posture and walking back to the others.

"You're right, this isn't…"

"LUMINOUS GET DOWN!" Dumia shouted, raising the arm of the mech and firing a single round that tore through Hilla's shoulder as she leapt into the air and was about to bring her staff down on Luminous, thrusting her back into the wall with enough force that a loud crack could be heard echoing through the entire space until she slumped down on the ground. Vondra and Mercedes looked back to Dumia, seeing large, long barreled, golden cannons clamped to the outside of her arms. Questions about the cannons would have to wait as they returned to Edelstein, bringing Hilla with them where she remained on rude life support until the Omega Sector could bring better equipment.

"You sure did a number on her. Her leg is broken, as are a few ribs, she has has a concussion, and something ripped through her subclavian artery. Right now she's slipped into a coma: it wouldn't be much trouble if we were to…"

"Nay Doctor… despite her evils, do what thou can to help her." Helen said as she watched the once proud woman her student had been fighting not 10 minutes ago, reduced to breathing with the aid of a machine wrapped in bandages. Dumia sat curled up in of the of the chairs just outside of the intensive care unit, her knees drawn up to her chest as small tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes. Matthew sat down next to her and put his arm around her, pulling her close.

"Are you alright?" he asked, rubbing her arm.

"I don't know. I shot her dad… and for a moment I felt happy about it until reality caught back up and I realized I had shot someone."

"You've been in battles before and they've never affected you."

"That's because we were fighting monsters. I shot another living breathing human being dad, how am I supposed to live with that?"

"You do not make yourself to un-remember." Came a firm voice. Dumia wiped her eyes, seeing a tall, athletic woman with short black hair, dragon's wings and tail.

"And who are you?" Dumia asked.

"I am D'Or, the galsen human's call a niece of Mir." She said. Dumia noted the black pants a boots she wore as well as the long coat over her shoulders, closed over her bust with a single button leaving her upper chest and midriff exposed. For a minute she thought about what it was she had told her, about not forgetting.

"But why would I want to always remember them when it would just make me feel horrible all over again?"

"The pain in your chest… remember that all the time. When you do not feel it, that is time to stop fighting because you are becoming yo gental shazo." Dumia nodded her understanding, despite some of the words being in another language; if one does not remember the pain of their kills, then they are becoming the same as the monsters they are trying to stop.

* * *

"Are you sure Lady Claudine? Most of your wounds are still not completely healed yet." Gritto asked as Checky helped to walk into the woods far back behind Edelstein.

"I'm sure. At least until I can pull these seals from myself, it will give them time enough to find a way to defeat Clytemnestra." Claudine responded as Checky sighed and shook his head.

"Why didn't you come to me with something like this? Why use your own body as a vessel to hide the seal crests?" He asked, gently setting her down on a fallen tree.

"It was the only way I could hide them and be sure that they were safe." Claudine smiled. Checky shook his head again when Grendal teleported to them, he and Gritto beginning the spell that would remove the stones one by one from Claudine's body. It would be a few weeks since putting them in caused Claudine a great amount of pain, and removing would cause her even more pain. But as she said, the time that it took to remove these crests would buy them all invaluable time.


	20. Chapter 19: Now You Understand

Chapter 19: Now You Understand

Yoshumari silently glided down onto the balcony of Clytemnestra's bedroom, folding his wings to a comfortable position when she appeared before him after one of the curtains waved into his view.

"I haven't seen you in some time Yoshumari: I was beginning to worry that you'd forgotten me." She said, tilting her head to the side and gently placing her fingers on her chest as though pointing to herself.

"You really are enjoying that body to its fullest aren't you? Drop the cutesy act, it doesn't suit you." Yoshumari said with a sneer. Clytemnestra chuckled through her nose, straightening up and walking over the vanity in Empress Cygnus' room.

"What do you want this time? I haven't collected anymore Seals, and you said that you would only visit me when I procured another." She cooed as Yoshumari leaned against the balcony's archway and crossed his arms.

"You mean to tell me with all that power, you still can't feel it?" He asked in a cryptic tone.

"Oh, you mean the trivial matter of Empress Cygnus releasing her true powers? Ha! What an insult! She may have the power, but she doesn't have the slightest idea how to use them."

"That's part of it, but also the fact that Alice Teawrite has been brought back from the Abyssal Labyrinth." The news made a noticeable reaction come over Clytemnestra as her face became paler, swallowing hard.

"That's what I thought. You _are_ afraid of her and what she can do to you, aren't you?" Yoshumari asked, but was never dignified with an answer. Laughing to himself Yoshumari turned to jump from the balcony when he turned in a blur, activating his Nalcana and deflecting a powerful chain spear into the wall.

"You _are_ beginning to break. Now it will only be a matter of time before _she_ can once again take over her own body." Yoshumari taunted, agitating Clytemnestra to the point of having her power seep from within her and the apparatus, gathering her long hair into the air as whispers began to surround them in a loud hiss of indecipherable voices.

"You will see that the power I posses is still far superior to that of anyone here in Ossyria. I've killed Minerva once, I can do it again!" She said, her voice matched with a terrifying growl as she spoke.

"You're just deceiving yourself. You _WILL_ fail; if not by the Heroes, The Guardians or the Goddess Cygnus, then by me. Remember, I am still the one that will be present when the hope of ruling this world fades from your eyes." Yoshumari hissed, turning and jumping from the balcony in a swan dive, flying off into the distance when Clytemnestra hurled a blast of chain spears at him, deflected and hurled back at her with a couple of them slicing through the skin on her cheek, burying themselves into the stone behind her. With a casual sweep of her fingers, Clytemnestra wiped the blood from her cheek and sealed the wound over, smiling to herself.

* * *

One Week Later

"…and so it is with heavy, heavy hearts that we must say goodbye to good friends, parents and masters. Though they are gone from our sight, they will never be gone from our hearts." Harmonia said, each of the High Elders bowing while Evan and Mir were lowered into the ground. Eva felt confused, hugging D'Or when she could no longer keep her tears at bay: if there had been one of the Black Wings who had killed them, then it would be easier to cast the blame. But there was no enemy, no vow for revenge that could be made, only the knowledge that they were dead. Rhinne and Alice both attended the memorial, knowing full well that their very presence might not be welcomed but were surprised when Eva came looking for them.

"Alice, for what I said, I'm sorry for thinking that you could just do anything because Of who you were." Eva said as Alice nodded, still saddened by what lay ahead for this young one.

"And Rhinne; thank you for coming. I'm sure that you know what's transpired over the last few days?" Rhinne nodded her head, managing to put on a sad smile despite her woe.

"Then I may be coming to the both of you for help in trying to find out what my duty is, since…" Eva's words were cut short when she began to break down again, embraced by Alice and Rhinne for comfort.

"We are both her for you Eva, your family is much larger than you realize." Alice whispered, letting her go into D'Or's strong embrace, transforming into her dragon form and placing Eva on her shoulders while taking to the skies with a gentle rise, circling Edelstein many a time, mentally sharing memories with Eva about the times that she would fly with Mir.

"I hope that making her the next Dragon Master so quickly wasn't something that will weigh to heavily on her." Cygnus commented, watching the small dark spot circle the town again as it had been for the past hour.

"Making her the Dragon Master is only the beginning. Once her heart has healed, Alice and I can begin to train her more specifically as the Dragon Master." Rhinne answered, saying her goodbye's when she felt the Temple of Time almost urging her to come back. The New Guardians walked back in silence to the temporary High Guard garage when Latimer wanted to ask about Dumia's guns she had when Hilla tried to strike Luminous.

"Were those guns you had a form of your Gaia Cloak? I wanted to ask, but in the heat of the moment it I had forgotten, and then we had this." He asked, still somewhat subdued.

"Oh, yeah… I didn't really think about what I was doing until they were just there. I tried it again before this memorial and found that it gathers light energy, compresses it into a bullet form and fires it like a rail gun." Dumia explained, looking over her shoulder at the golden cloak hanging from her shoulders.

"Do you know if it works outside of the mech?" Patricia asked; if they could use the guns without it, then it would give them a serious advantage for moving around in tight spots.

"I don't know; I've never tried it." she answered, waving the conversation off as though to postpone trying until a better mood was able to be found. The Heroes walked away from the memorial feeling somewhat lost: Evan had been one of them if not in body then in spirit. But their lack of finding out whom he and Mir were on a personal level left them with a sense of loss for how they should feel. However they felt, it was becoming clearer that they were going to need more power to defeat Clytemnestra, and so with the help of the Lumiere, Mercedes went back to Ellul where she found that most of her people were free from their icy prison. The young ones ran through the streets once again making laughter fill the air with it sweet chimes.

"_At least almost all are back to normal._" Mercedes smiled to herself, walking back to her bedroom and picking up her harp, playing the solitary song that she loved and gained an audience with the Great Spirit, her southern belle accent always making Mercedes smile to herself.

"Whai Mercedes, I hawdly recognized you when you came into Elluel. How ah you doin sweet heart?" she asked, putting her hand over her chest as though to emphasize her point.

"I am doing very well Great Spirit." Mercedes answered, kneeling to the ground and bowing low.

"Nahow whut have ah told you abaht speakin in such a propah tone? Theh is no need when two ol' friends are seein wun anutha. Nahow, whut has brought you heya to me?" The Great Spirit asked, comfortably hovering down from where she was and gracefully sitting down in a chair next to where Mercedes had bowed.

"As you no doubt know, this new threat on the world Clytemnestra has been threatening Ossyria just as the Black Mage did so many years ago."

"Thaht ah have Mercedes. Ahnd ah believe you ahw due for anutha helpin of powah to help you aloung yo'r wahy."

"That is precisely why I have come here Great Spirit; I must ask for another portion of power to ensure that I can defeat this foe, and prevent her from firing the World Cannon." The Great Spirit raised her eyebrows and dropped her jaw.

"The World Cannon? Haow did she geht her hands on such a dangerous weapon?"

"I can't say Great Spirit, but she has brought Victoria, Ereve, and Ludibrum into place. The only piece she is missing is opening the conduit from the World Maple Tree. Again, I must ask for another potion of power to defeat her before the World Cannon is fired."

"Oh mah, thaht sounds absolutely horrid. Ah will give you anutha helpin of powah, but ah must warn you, that the powah that you will gain from this is something thaht you caint use for extended periods of tahm. Once you have dealt with this menice, be sure ahnd come back so thaht ah can train you in full to haness those powahs to their fullest."

"I understand Great Spirit. You have my word." Mercedes agreed, holding her arms wide as she was showered with a mist of bright golden light, absorbing into her body making Mercedes shiver as the power settled into her body.

"Nahow, go a give that Clytemnestra what for." The Great Spirit said with a gentle smile, sending Mercedes back to her room where Phantom was waiting. Just as she was about to say something, the bow guns on her hips began to glow, taking on a different form before the light settled, revealing much more elegant yet fierce looking weapons.

"I trust that there were no hitches?" Phantom smiled.

"No. But do tell Phantom, why are you here? I thought our agreement was that I would find a way to contact you once I was done?"

"And I would have waited, however I just received word from Edelstein; Zakuhm is still alive and has been spotted outside of Edelstein." Mercedes furrowed her brow as she and Phantom were drawn up to his ship and began heading back.

"Impossible! I saw Matthew cleave that beast in half."

"As true as that may be, remember, he is no longer alive as we know and there is no telling what powers he has gained through his resurrection." Phantom pointed out as he went to his room and pulled out what appeared to be another deck of cards, searching through them to replace some of the cards on his belt with more powerful ones.

"That is true." Mercedes agreed, looking around his room and seeing the large portrait of Aria still hanging on his wall. Despite her own indecision over loosing Evan, she still felt a sting of jealousy that he still kept traces of Aria everywhere she looked. As she looked around the room, she noticed a picture next to his bed facing where his head would rest whlie he slept. Curiosity pulled her towards the elegant frame and when she picked it up, it was a picture of herself hair flying in the winds covering some of her face so that only her eyes and part of her nose were visible.

"When did you…"

"It's something I've had for some time." Phantom said with a shy tone, taking the picture from her hand and setting it back down on the table. Mercedes grabbed the picture again and noted a small charm hanging in her hair.

"You've had this picture even since we finished out training with Minerva." Mercedes said wistfully.

"Really? I have?" Phantom asked with a sly grin, looking through his cards to memorize what was there.

"This charm right here was something that Freud gave to me right as we began to court each other. You've really kept this picture all that time?" Phantom sighed heavily, chuckling to himself as he looked over to the picture that Mercedes had picked up once again and held it in front of him.

"Yes, I have. You were the most beautiful person I had ever seen, even in my travels of Ossyria at the time. But my approach to you wasn't quick enough, and before I had really any chance at all, you and Freud were a happy couple and I was jealous. And so to try and at least keep some small part of you to myself, I took that picture." He smiled, taking the picture once again and placing it on the night stand then turning to Mercedes.

"When I found Aria, I tucked this picture away. But recently, I brought it back out and found that the feelings that I had felt for you back then, while not much more than childish infatuation, had become something more. Until this war with Clytemnestra is over, this picture will suffice." Mercedes nodded, walking out with Phantom back to the deck of the ship which, just coming into view of Edelstein and to the rear of it, they could see Zakuhm walking through the plains his wings having been severed from him in the attack from Matthew.

"_All this time, and I never knew how long he held onto those feelings._" Mercedes thought to herself, passing a wishful glance to where Phantom stood before clearing her mind for the battle that lay head of them. They could already see flashes of light from Luminous' attacks blasting the giant Hydra, at which Phantom ordered his ship be brought directly overhead and leapt from the side of his ship, holding his cane as far back as he arms would let him and swinging down on Zakuhm's body hard. Mercedes gained her balance on the handrail, letting the breeze toss her mass of golden locks around before grabbing her guns, holding them at arm's length and closing her eyes, falling forward with streaks of light trailing her as the Spirit Arrows blazed to life.

* * *

After receiving their orders from Wence, The New Guardians filled through the corridors of the Temple of Time, looking around at the roman inspired columns and marble floors that looked to stretch on for miles with other buildings hovering in the air all around them.

"Are you the children of The Ossyrian Guardians?" a voice asked, all of them turning to see an old man walking up to them with a scroll in hand as Dumia answered.

"Uh, yeah, we are. Though we've been… uh…"

"You are the New Guardians, yes I know, I am Geridon the Time Keeper: Are you here in response to the letter I sent?"

"What letter?" Dumia asked, sliding back the top of her cab and crouching down.

"I sent a letter to Edelstein over a week ago requesting assistance when the Rhinne had gone missing."

"That can't be, we just saw her a few hours ago at Evan and Mir's memorial." Vondra exclaimed.

"Then what ever it was that you saw wasn't her. Rhinne has gone missing well over a week ago, and I sent a message to Edelstien requesting help in finding her. Arkarium's attacks began to slow when word of Hilla's defeat came to the Temple. But when Rhinne disappeared his attacks became even more intense and the entire temple feels as though it is shuddering." Latimer and Vondra both nodded, looking to each other with a knowing look before Dumia continued.

"When we finish up here, we'll be sure to deliver the message ourselves: we were sent here by Commander Wence to help some of his soldiers with a portal." Acer explained, setting his cannon down and putting a fist to his hip, watching Geridon contemplate their offer.

"I see, thank you then. Though I haven't seen anyone come through here in the past few hours, let alone soldiers." When Geridon finished, a loud rumble could be heard echoing through the halls.

"What was that?" Patricia asked as Dumia stood and activated the long range radar on her HUD.

"I'm not sure, but a few people look to be further up." Dumia replied, activating her arm guns and walking towards where the sound had come from, carful to take cover behind any of the main columns of corridor entrances. As they searched, they came to what appeared to be the entrance to another part of the temple with three tall doors, one of which appeared to have been broken through.

"That's weird; the bogies on my HUD are gone." Dumia called, deactivating her guns and extending her radar's range as far as it would go not finding anything.

"No! Those doors are never to be opened!" Geridon called, rushing over to the door that had been broken through, wringing his hands over and over again.

"What's behind them that's so important no one is to venture past their threshold?" Patrcia asked.

"They are doors to the Verus Vicis." Called a voice, making them all turn to see Yoshumari, Starling and a junior Crusade officer Crow walking up to them.

"The what?" Acer asked, setting his cannon down and leaning against it.

"Verus Vicis: something that in actuality, no one here living within Ossyria should know about, not even the Seraphim should know about it." Yoshumari answered. Starling's brow lowered over her eyes, stepping closer to him in concern; ever since the defeat of the Black Mage, Yoshumari had been revealing small tidbits of cryptic information that any normal human in Ossyria wouldn't normally know about: Clytemnestra's split Life Stream Anchor, The World Cannon, and now this, the Verus Vicis.

"What is this Verus Vicis you're talking about: from the language its sounds like something from some of my spells." Patrica offered.

"I do know what it is, but I can't tell you. The only thing I _can_ tell you is that if we don't stop whoever or whatever went though this door, there will be repercussions of cataclysmal proportions."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go Crow." Starling called, checking her guns and running through the door with Crow right behind her before anything could be said. After they had gone through, Geridon closed his eyes and covered his face in devastation.

"What? What's wrong?" Latimer asked, his hand absently reaching back for his crossbow in anticipation of battle.

"This door leads to Verus Vicis Antiquus, essentially the past. If whoever has gone through this door is allowed to linger there for too long, irreparable damage could be done to the time line." Gredon explained, as Latimer looked to Yoshumari who shifted his wings uncomfortably.

"Is what he says true?" Latimer asked, still keeping his hand on the stock of his crossbow.

"I can't say. Just go and stop whoever is there." he said, seeming like he was fighting himself in telling them important details that could help them. However they also understood that dealing with things of the past and knowing certain things could affect time for the worse. As The New Guardians went through the door, Geridon turned to Yoshumari and furrowed his brow, locking gazes with him.

"What aren't you telling? Only the priests, monks and guards of the Temple are privy to the Verus Vicis. How is it that you, the Seraphim Prince and resident of Ossyria, know of this?" he asked. Yoshumari sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose for a long while as he listened to the heartbeat-like rhythm of the temple.

"I can't explain it Geridon; it's as if, I've known these things forever, but yet I know that I have never learned of these things. I don't know if it is from some outside influence, but I just know." Geridon regarded Yoshumari with a suspicious eye, but nodded his understanding. In the world of Ossyria, many times things that seemed extra ordinary were quite routine and Yoshumari's knowledge of well hidden secrets should be no different. Yet with all the strange happenings of Ossyria recorded within the Temple's vast library, there was something else guiding, influencing Yoshumari to give them vital, if not sometimes vague information. Geridon was about to further ask questions of Yoshumari when he abruptly looked up and worry crossed his entire being.

"Cupita… hang on Starling I'm coming!" he shouted, spreading his massive wings and shooting through the doorway leaving Geridon to wonder.

* * *

Phantom let out a rising scream as he slammed the head of his cane into Zakuhm's chest, the force of which pushing it through the skin and into the oblivion on his body cavity. Mercedes and Luminous both tried for long range attacks, arrows and spears of light simply passing through his body.

"Do you think that you can so easily defeat me?" he shouted snaking one of his heads down to Phantom's level, belching out a wall of flames from two of his heads, while using his tail to swat away another volley of arrows and spears from Mercedes and Luminous. Even with their newly found power, Zakuhm still kept pressing forward for Edelstien easily, their attacks only making him angrier. To slow his approach, Mercedes dug deep within herself, gathering what mana she had left into the Spirit Arrows while glowing vines reached up her legs spreading to her arms and cheeks as she charged.

Luminous's eyes flared with dark power as he slammed the end of his staff into the ground where cracks of shadow magic rushed beyond Mercedes, bursting from the ground as Spear Chains that shot through Zakuhm's body before Luminous hauled on his staff and pulled the hydra to the ground. Phantom sprung from the hydra's back and drew a very powerful card given to him by Minerva: the Penombre.

After sending a pulse of Mana through the card, he hurled it forward, holding up his cane while flames sprung from the card in the shape of burning Maple Leaves, bolting down with the swing of Phantom's cane, pinning Zakuhm to the ground. Mercedes clenched her jaw, trying to maintain the massive surge of power being held within her Spirit Arrows before jamming one crossbow into the ground and pulling the trigger, a blast of arrows launching Zakuhm into the air where he was met with another barrage of arrows, tearing even more rotten flesh from his bones.

Luminous appeared above him, his entire being glowing in a silver light; twin halves of a sword exuding polar opposite magic slammed together over his staff then drove Zakuhm back to the ground with his Ender Sword. Light blue light rose around Phantom while a cape made of the same light began flowing behind him, propelling him onto Zakuhm with tremendous force before disappearing in a volley of slashes visible only as blue light.

"I think we got him." Phantom called, walking from the cloud of dust that had gathered after Zakuhm's falling.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Zakuhm was after all part of the undead, thus making him more difficult to kill." Luminous stated, the serious silver light in his eyes staring past Phantom to the cloud obscuring them the view of the hydra's body.

"Oh lighten up. Besides, you saw how much damage our combined attacks did. What is there to worry about?" Phantom asked, a boyish grin playing across his face when Mercedes rushed to them, catching them by the shoulders and bringing them to the ground when a blast of flames rushed over head.

"There is plenty to worry about thief. My name is no longer Zakuhm, it is Zakeros, The chaos beast!" he roared, some of his heads pulling from the dust and igniting the sky with their flames. The three of them prepared to fight again, but their mana had been depleted so much during the previous battle that not even the simplest of boosting spells could be initiated by them.

"Stand aside!" a metallic voice called. Looking back, the three of them saw three SG-88 exo-armors of the High Guard rolling out of the town, surrounded by Battle Mages flitting past them in bursts of mana while the Archers galloped by on Panther Back, attacking Zakeros hard, and even pushing him back.

* * *

"I had hoped this process would have taken longer." Claudine huffed, walking to the east end of the Edelstein with the aid of Checky, the Seal Crests wrapped in a burlap sack under her arm. The process for removing the Crests from her body left her feeling exhausted, but she still refused to rest until she had completed her task.

"Grendal said that it would take at least three weeks for this to be done; why did you insist on doing them all within the same week?!" Checky scolded, trying to stop her from further injuring herself, but having little luck as Claudine would only walk forwards anyway.

"You really should pay more attention Mechanic." A chilling voice said, stopping them both to see Clytemnestra standing before them, holding out her hand in anticipation while the apparatus hovered behind her.

"What do you mean? Did you have something to do with this?" Checky demanded. Clytemnestra smirked, one of the apparatus arms reaching forwards and relieving Claudine of the seals.

"It was all my doing. Did you think that I didn't notice this whole scheme of buying time for your precious Guardians while you removed these seals from her body? Remember, she spent quite a bit of time in my dungeon, thus exposing her to my power. I simply used that to my advantage and compelled her to finish more quickly." Clytemnestra smiled, unwrapping the crests and looking over their brilliance, trying to hide her obvious excitement.

"You conniving witch! She could have been killed!" Checky shouted cradling Claudine when she collapsed to the ground after her adrenaline and black magic fueled determination finally gave out.

"She's still alive isn't she? But that is of no matter, you all will die shortly. With these, the World Cannon will finally be operational, and you have no power to stop me." She laughed, holding her hand up and catching the giant rocket powered fist coming down on her, then tossing back the attacking Mecha with little more than a flick of her wrist.

"Then, Zakuhm's attack on Edelstein was…"

"Very good Checky, it was a distraction. All of your most powerful warriors, even the old Guardians are fighting as hard as they can against my Chaos Beast, Zakeros. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to." she smiled. Checky set Claudine down as quickly as he could running for her reaching out for the seals but grabbing nothing save for a plume of dark mana as she disappeared while her laugh echoed through the streets. Just as the cloud was clearing, Dureau appeared through it, bringing his mace down hard making the ground erupt into a plume of giant black and red thorns making Checky jump back, barely avoiding them.

"What was Clytemnestra doing here?!" Dureau demanded, his hair hanging limp and his eyes sunken in, but the fire that Checky could see burning in his soul kept him from saying anything for a moment.

"She's gotten the Seals of Ossyria. I fear she is headed to Leafre and the Tera Forest to empower the World Cannon." Checky said, almost in a daze. Dureau's lips separated as his face began taking on a rather sick, alligator-like appearance, his Agies burning all around his body. With a rough grab, he latched onto Mastema's arm and disappeared in a plume of dark power, scorching the ground where he had been a moment before.

"Black, Green and Gold units this is Papa Bear, disengage Zakuhm, I repeat, disengage Zakuhm and return to base. Prepare to redeploy to Leafre." He called through his mic. Looking up, the fight seemed like it would be won when Zakuhm stopped, looked around him for a moment and then began running for the coast, jumping into the water and disappearing from sight. It was as if he knew there would be no stopping Clytemnestra now.

* * *

Wave upon wave of corrupted creatures would come, not stopping while subjecting them to powerful blasts of magic that could rival that of The Guardians. Latimer clenched his jaw hard, tapping into the Emerald Chip on his wrist to boost his arrows which was slowly sapping him of his strength.

"How you holding up Starling?!" Patricia asked, smashing through the spine of a Skelegon, breaking it down into its individual bones.

"I'm ok… it still stings though." She hissed through her teeth, holding her side where three ragged gashes in her flesh had been poorly bandaged while Crow did what he could to tend to her wounds.

"I'm sorry commander, if I had been paying more attention…"

"It's alright Crow; there was no way for you to know there would have been an ambush. I'm alright for now, go and help the others; Arkarium must be stopped!" she hissed, trying to suppress the pain and speak.

"But commander…"

"Go, that's an order!" she scolded, momentarily dulling her pain before it came back harder, catching the attention of Patricia as she swatted away another wave of Skelegon and Wyvern.

"Dumia! We need to get Starling outta here! She's not gonna make it!" She yelled as Dumia swung her fists through a group then unleashed a hail of bullets at them.

"I'm kinda busy here!" she shouted back, grappling with another larger Skelegon before pushing through its spine and shrugging off the bones. Vondra flashed past Dumia's mech time and again, taking care of the smaller Wyvern around her while Latimer and Acer had moved further forward to push through an army of Centaurs but had resorted to holding them back when Starling was injured. Latimer was surprised from a flanking attack, pinned to the ground by one of the Centaur's heavy hooves, screaming out in pain after hearing a loud snap from both his arms.

"LATIMER!" Vondra shrieked, leaning forward to rush for him but blocked by another Skelegon, watching as the centaur raised its spear.

"You will go no further!" the Centaur said in a commanding voice when something buzzed over head cutting through him with ease and throwing him back before Acer had the chance to fire his charged shot. Another arc of the same power hummed past his being, cutting through another centaur attacking Acer from behind.

"Pay attention you idiot!" Yoshumari shouted, flying into the center of the battle, throwing his wings wide, tossing aside two more centaurs as children standing over the writing Latimer. Within three more moves, his Nalcana flared and cut through four more enemies making them turn and retreated, catching sight of Starling as she sat slumped against a fallen tree. Holding his hands over Latimer's arms, he quickly healed the majority of his injury before rushing to Starling's side and beginning to heal her wounds.

"Yoshumari… no, you have to…"

"Starling, be quiet. If you move too much I won't be able to heal these wounds properly." He scolded, resting his hand against her side as the power of his Nalcana enveloped her torso. Starling hissed in pain for a few moments until it died away into a dull ache. Pulling his hand away revealed his power holding itself in her wounds as though it were making up for the missing flesh.

"I need to get her back to our time for medical attention. Crow, with me; the rest of you, get to whoever is the cause of this and stop them." Yoshumari commanded, picking up Starling in his arms and flying off, Crow right on their heels. Dumia shrugged to them, laughing to herself as she turned in the direction they had seen Arkarium walking in, following the paths to a very young looking Leafre.

"How far back in time did we go?" Vondra asked, walking beside Latimer as he cradled his arms, still burning with pain.

"I'd say… well I don't know." Acer said, hauling his cannon onto his shoulder when he saw what appeared to be a broken down version of Leafre appearing to be in the primary stages of being rebuilt by the Halfrings that called this town home.

"Excuse me, what happened here?" Patricia asked. One of the Halfrings looked back to her, his eyes becoming wide when he heard the question.

"Where have you been? Hiding under a rock? The Black Mage's forces came through here a week ago! Thankfully it seems that he's stopped his assault on Ossyria and focused mainly on the temple itself. We're just beginning to rebuild what was destroyed by his forces." the Halfring said. Dumia asked if they had seen anyone come through recently and they had, pointing them in the direction of a hut where an old wizard Halfring would turn them into a dragon so that you could go to the Temple of Time. They stayed for a bit to have Latimer's arms looked at by a healer, making sure that he would be able to fight then making their way straight for the temple, Dumia being turned into a much larger dragon to carry her mech.

Once there, all five of them could only stare at the utter destruction that lay all around them, still able to hear the sounds of battle echoing in the distance.

"Something's not right guys." Vondra whispered, setting her hands on her dagger pummels listening to everything around them.

"What do you mean? This is Ossyria of the past, which means that Arkarium must have come here to unseal The Mage after the Heroes sealed him!" Acer said, eager to move forward. But Vondra still persisted that something wasn't right.

"Didn't you hear what that Halfring said? He said that The Mage has focused his attack on the temple and made no mention of the Heroes." Acer shrugged as he turned to leave once again.

"Maybe we aren't that far forward yet. Come on, we have to get going!" Acer urged.

"But then there's that thing Yoshumari said, then um, what did he call it?" Vondra asked, snapping her fingers over and over again as she tried to remember the phrase that he had used.

"Veer… verses …"

"Verus Vicis!" Patricia interrupted, catching the attention of the others before continuing her explanation.

"Helen told me there is a language of the world they were born in called Latin. She taught me some of it since some spells are in that language. If I'm translating it right, I think it means True Time." Patricia explained, making them all turn to her with wide, frightened eyes.

"If that's the case, then The Black Mage was never defeated." Vondra whispered, until Acer interrupted her deep thought.

"Look, we're here to stop Arkaruim from doing something that he shouldn't and we're here in a place that we shouldn't be. I think we need to stop asking questions and start moving so that we spend as little time here as we can before we mess something up." With reluctant agreement, the five of them walked through the temple, following a trail of destruction leading far into the temple. Dumia kept her radar range as high as it would go, when she finally got a ping on something 100 yards ahead of them.

"If I remember right, this almost looks like the main entrance to the temple back where we came from." Latimer stated, massaging his forearms to quiet the burning ache in them despite having been declared healed.

"Yeah, but from what I can see, it looks like there's a giant seal on the door, and someone… its Arkarium! He's trying to break the seal!" Dumia hissed, trying to be quiet. Arkarium let a small smile play across his face, turning up the corners of his mustache as his cobra familiar turned around and hissed towards them.

"I know you're there." he wheezed, turning from his deed and setting his staff onto the marble with a hollow sounding clap. Dumia pushed her bottom jaw out, letting out her breath with a long hiss as she looked to the rest, nodding to them as she stepped out and faced Arkarium in full.

"Well, at least now we can get this over with quicker." Dumia laughed, holding up her arms and activating the guns.

"Hold a moment: I know why I'm here, but do _you_ know why you are here?" he asked with an overconfident statement. Dumia and Latimer both lowered their weapons slightly, letting his words sink in.

"We're here to stop you from breaking that seal!" Vondra shouted, bringing the other two out of their pondering trance and hold their weapons up again.

"Stop me? Why would you need to do such a thing? I couldn't break this seal if I wanted to. It was put in place by the goddess; even The Mage in all his power would have extreme difficulty to break _this _seal." Arkarium answered, turning a bit to eye the circular ribbons of light swirling around one another. Dumia and Latimer once again lowered their weapons, eyeing the old man carefully, watching for any sigh of movement.

"I'm not here to break a seal; I'm not even going to fight you." Arkarium laughed, tossing aside his staff and dismissing his familiar.

"I'm only here, to keep you five busy. Clytemnestra has what she has been seeking, and she will be successful in her mission to finish what the Black Mage started." He laughed when a part of him seemed to fade and distort.

"It's a golem projection! We need to get back to Ossyria NOW!" Patricia shouted. Making what room she could, Dumia scooped up the other four and began running back through the temple as fast as she could, ignoring the fact that she needed a Dragon Form to exit the temple.

"Dumia? Sis, what are you doing?"

"There's no time to think Vondra, we need to go. Patty, did Helen ever teach you the Long Range teleporting spell?"

"Yes, but I haven't had much practice using it." she answered.

"Then here's your chance for some more practice. I need you to get us down to Leafre, otherwise we'll all be plummeting to the ground if the winds don't get us first."

"Dumia, I'm not even sure…"

"Patricia, less talking, more doing!" Dumia shouted, quickening her pace making the engines audibly increase their speed. Patricia tried to concentrate, visualizing the town they had passed through, but not being able to get a clear picture in her mind with Dumia's mech jumping up and down. Finally she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and making herself see the town. Bits of light began to flash all around them, flying back in streaks of white light becoming more and more frequent. The other four became nervous when they saw the edge of the temple starting to near, coming closer with each huge step that Dumia ran. Just as she was jumping off the edge, bright golden light enveloped them for a moment then spit them back out running through the middle of Leafre where hundreds of the Halfrings could be seen packing up anything they could carry. Dumia realized that she was still running full bore and dug her feet into the ground, tearing the rich moist soil into trenches and throwing it everywhere.

"Jeese sis, do you think you could have made a bigger mess?" Vondra asked, she and Acer jumping from Dumia's shoulders while she set Latimer and Patricia down on the ground.

"You know how hard it is to stop a ten ton mech suit on a dime from 50 miles an hour?" Dumia shot back when Tatamo hobbled up to them as fast as he could.

"What is the meaning of throwing dirt onto everything?! We haven't time for your games Guardians! We must evacuate!"

"Evacuate? What's going on here? Not an hour ago you guys said you were rebuilding." Acer exclaimed in exasperation.

"There's no time! Either help us get what we can to Edelstein or get out of the way!" Tatamo ordered. Reluctantly, Dumia powered down her mech, all of them helping the furry people pack what they would need. But as they were packing, Dureau and Mastema came rushing through the village, stopping only for a moment to speak with them.

"Have any of you seen Clytemnestra?" has asked franticly. The Guardians only shook their head in confusion as he darted off to the west in plumes of dark power.

* * *

Four Hours Earlier

Dureau sat on his bed staring at the floor; in the past week, he hadn't eaten, he hadn't slept, nor had he wanted to train or go to Mir and Evan's memorial; the sight of him bringing his mace down on his brother's skull kept playing over and over in his mind. Mastema had been able to hold her human form all through that week, tenderly washing the blood from his hands and face while he sat in a daze.

"He was my brother Mastema…"

"Master Dureau, you did what he asked. Whatever your brother had become, it was no longer him. The part that you saw of him, it was a shadow, an echo of his former self."

"But I could have saved him! I could have done something to help that echo become who I knew all those centuries ago." Dureau answered, his voice becoming shaky as he spoke. Mastema sat beside him, leaning against his arm and kissing his shoulder.

"I only knew your brother for a short time Master, but from what I do remember of him, I doubt that he would want you to remember him like this." She smiled. Dureau said nothing, closing his eyes, letting what Mastema had said sink into his being and ease the dull ache that had settled into his being. Sleep felt like it was finally coming to him when he felt something appear in the east end of Edelstein; it was strong, hostile.

"Clytemnestra!" He shouted, grabbing his mace and rushing through the building as fast as he could to the main road where he saw the wretched wench talking to Checky and Claudine; Claudine appeared weak, much weaker than in the previous week and Clytemnestra almost seemed amused. Khyune letters flared on his wings, Ageis swirled around his mace and he charged in hard, tearing some of the cobblestone from their place in the road. As he readied to attack her, she began to disappear and by the time he brought his mace down, she was gone leaving him with nothing but a tightening knot of rage in the pit of his stomach.

"What was Clytemnestra doing here?!" Dureau demanded n a growl; right now he didn't care that he had almost killed a comrade, he wanted vengeance, now more than anything.

"She's gotten the Seals of Ossyria. I fear she is headed to Leafre and the Tera Forest to empower the World Cannon." Checky replied. Rage over took him as his true demon nature began to expose itself on his face, grabbing Mastema's arm hard and disappearing in a plume of his own power where they found themselves among the trees of the Minar Forest. It only took moment for Dureau to gain his Barings and begin storming east with Mastema on his heels.

"Master Dureau, wait. What are you doing?"

"Putting an end to Clytemnestra and The Black Mage once and for all!" He growled in return. Mastema was about to respond, but the rage and passion emanating from him made her hold her comment back, summoning her sword to her. Facing Clytemnestra directly might be a mistake, but she wasn't about to let Dureau face her on his own. As they walked, they began seeing some of the Halfrings living around Leafre within the Minar Forest bustling about as fast as they could, packing what they could carry before running for the town itself. Nearing the village revealed even more of the Halfrings bustling about, packing anything they had of value with the New Guardians helping them.

"Maybe they have seen her." Mastema suggested at which Dureau nodded, running up to Latimer.

"Have you seen Clytemnestra come through this way?" He asked, worried that he wouldn't be able to cut her off from getting to the Tera Forest. Latimer shook his head in confusion as Dureau and Mastema bolted west in a plume of dark power, using that same plume to move them faster towards where the Tera Forest access statue was located, finding that the entire area was surrounded by high level Black Wings soldiers.

"CLYTEMNESTRA!" Dureau shouted, catching her attention as the stepped towards the door knob-like statue.

"Ah, you must be the demon slayer I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." She mocked, bowing to him slightly before returning to her task, setting one fist sized silver crest onto the statue, making what appeared to be blue circuits flash across the stone and down the post into the ground, the air before reveal the hazy image of a giant tree. It was of little importance to Dureau as he grabbed for his mace and lunged at her through the ring of guards until he was stopped in mid air.

"Now now, I expected more from you Demon Slayer. And from what I've heard about you from the others, your power is vastly lacking; tell me why is that?" she taunted, turning over her shoulder as she set another of the crests onto the statue. Dureau struggled to break fee of his invisible bonds, but the more he struggled, the tighter it felt like his fetters were becoming.

"I see, you want to avenge what your little brother had become. It was a shame really to lose such a valuable asset." Dureau ceased his struggling, thinking back to the words she had just uttered: how did she know about why he was here? How did she even know that he had a little brother? That information was something that only the Black Mage knew about.

"How could you know about him? You are just a mere creation of the Black Mage!" He demanded, struggling once again to pull free so hard he felt like his arms would tear from his body.

"Master, look!" Mastema called making him stop once again, finally able to feel the presence coming from Clytemnestra, pressing against him hard enough that it was hard to breathe. He was about to demand further information when whispers arose all around them and the image of The Black Mage's cloaked head seemed to hover behind her.

"You… you're The Black Mage?!" Dureau asked in rage, all the previous zeal for killing his family rushing back to him in a flood of power, breaking Clytemnestra's hold and rushing for her in a blast of black flames. With a wave of her hand, Clytemnestra flung him back to the ground where he tumbled to his feet once again and charged her only to be thrown to the ground over and over. Mastema wanted to help, now that she knew who it was really within this woman, but the ferocity that Dureau attacked with frightened her enough to keep her from interfering. Clytemnestra's patience quickly ran thin, throwing Dureau to the ground extra hard after he had been charging at her for the past 10 minutes with same result. Mastema rushed to his side after he didn't get up, rolling him onto his back and setting his head in her lap.

"You really do have most of your power back. But it's too little too late Demon Slayer. This world is no more!" she sneered, placing the last of the crests into the statue. Nothing happened at first when the crests lifted from the statue, spinning around each other before slamming themselves into the base where bright blue circuits screamed to life into the ground. The power surging from the circuits made a giant veil pull back revealing the Maple World tree with nearly half its leaves having turned gold or orange. The same circuits then rushed to the tree, wrapping around its trunk as a bright blue glow began pushing through the ground, rushing towards Ereve.

* * *

Latimer put the last box down, helping the Halfrings evacuate to Edelstein when something felt off: it was as if his entire being burned with new energy. Something caught his attention in the direction of the mines where a bright blue glow looked to be pouring from the mines when he felt the same energy coming from the main continent of Ossyria.

"What in the world was that?" Vondra asked, looking around and hugging her arms when a shiver of power surged through her body.

"It looks like it's coming from Ereve, whatever it is." Belle called, seeing a bright white light shining in the distance.

"It's the World Cannon." Checky said with a sorrowful tone. Vondra and Latimer both looked back to him with wide eyes, looking back to the light in horror.

"What happened?! I thought you still had five of the Seals hidden away?!" Daren bellowed, grabbing Checky's collar and shaking him hard. Checky could only look down when he heard the sound of shuffling approaching from behind.

"They were within me. I was the hiding place." Claudine mumbled, clinging to one of the Battle Mages for support as she walked into the circle.

"But, how?!" Acer asked.

"Clytemnestra gave me an ultimatum: I would remove the seals from my body and give them to her, or she would wipe all of Edelstein off the face of Ossyria. I agreed, thinking that the ritual for removing them would give you Guardians and the Heroes time to train and become strong enough to defeat her." Claudine coughed hard, doubling over and falling to her knees as Checky came over, steadying her.

"That still doesn't answer the question of what happened? How did Clytemnestra get a hold of the Seals?" Acer asked.

"When I was captured, apparently I was exposed to Black Magic enough that it allowed her a 'back door' into my mind, influencing me to speed up the process." Again she doubled over in pain as another cough racked her body. The Heroes came to them, hearing the last bit of their conversation, dropping their shoulders in defeat.

"What do we do now? I don't think there is a spell strong enough to defend against a power such as that." Phantom mused, sitting on the edge of a planter and burying his face in his hands.

"There is." A strong voice cut in making all of them turned to see Cygnus, bold bravery in her eyes as she watched the twinkling light in the distance.

"My being has still been assimilating everything that Minerva was, and I have just recently had a barrier spell come to mind. It is powerful, able to defend against the World Cannon but I don't think that I will be able to sustain it on my own."

"I'll help." Patricia said, soon joined by all the Battle Mages, Adventure Mages, and Luminous, all agreeing to help with the barrier that could cover Edelstein.

"Thank you, thank you all. The rest of you, find anyone you can and bring them into the city, help anyone you can to get to Edelstein before this barrier is at full strength." Cygnus commanded when a large image of Clytemnestra appeared in the skies above.

"Ossyria! As you are no doubt aware, I have finally unlocked the World Cannon in full. Despite this, there are some of you who still doubt how much power I now have, so as a demonstration, observe!" she commanded as the image shifted to a high aerial view of the Cave of Life mountain range. The light on the horizon flashed brighter for a moment when what looked to be a stream jettisoned from it making everyone shift their sight to the image, watching in stunned silence as the beam hit the mountains, blinding everyone for a few moments with the explosion.

A low rumble echoed through the air long after the light had flashed, shaking the windows of the buildings. When the light finally subsided, the image revealed the entire mountain range having been obliterated into a crater; not a trace of the once majestic mountain was left.

"And that was only at 34% of this weapon's full power! You have no hope of defeating me now! The Heroes may have defeated me once, followed by The Guardians. But now, there is nothing that will stop me from turning this world to ash!" She screeched, the image fading from view, but her maniacal laughter lingering for a long while after leaving them all staring into the sky.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET MOVING!" Cygnus screamed, waking everyone from their trance as they rushed to help those flooding into Edelstein.

* * *

Clytemnestra smirked to herself, the throne in Ereve having transformed into a control panel, showing the steady recharge of the main battery while she watched everyone scramble for salvation. Her next target would be that of Edelstein: 50% power should be enough to wipe that spec of torrid memories from the face of the planet.

"_Why? Why are you doing this? What have these people done to you?_" that second presence finally surfaced once again, but this time being so much more timid than she had been before.

"_It's not about what they did Clytemnestra, it's about what they didn't do. This world has needed a strong hand to lead it since the beginning. But Minerva was too soft hearted to do what needed to be done."_

_"But why must you destroy everything? There is so much beauty here."_ the presence asked. Mentally Clytemnestra back handed the presence, tossing her into the deepest part of her mind.

_"You are just as weak as she was. This world has become so corrupt that the only way for it to be saved is to destroy everything and start anew. Then I will give them the strong leader they deserve, the leader they need!"_ she sneered, watching as the Main Battery was reaching its desired charging point. Soon, everything would be just as it should be: Minerva would be erased from Ossyria permanently, The Guardians and their children would no longer be a threat, nor would the Heroes and the new world he had envisioned would at last be his.

"_Why Corus? Why do you stoop to such means?" the presence asked, looking out on the world through eyes that were hers but not of her will. Her eyes closed, and from where she had been watching, red eyes appeared before her, framed by a black cloak._

_"My dear Clytemnestra. It is the _only _way to bring about the new, perfect world. In time, you will see it my way."_

* * *

Patricia could feel a rise in power coming from Ereve once again, this time stronger which made her skin itch. People were still pouring in to the city from everywhere, but if they were going to protect the people there, they _had_ to a least activate the barrier now otherwise, everyone would be lost. With a nod from Cygnus, all the mages began concentrating their mana towards Cygnus as she began chanting the ancient spell over and over again, mana and magic characters beginning to emanate from her into the air.

With a hard sigh, Patricia began supplying Emerald Crystal power to them just as a pillar of blue light shot into the sky from around Cygnus, spreading out in a dome shape once it had reached higher than the tallest of buildings within the city. People were scrambling to get into the city before the dome touch the ground, jumping off skiffs and air ships to the ground to make sure they got in. Tragically, even with the help of The New Guardians, there were still hundreds of people left outside the barrier, all of them pound, pushing, and attacking the barrier to be let in.

"Can't you manipulate it to let them in?!" Latimer shouted.

"I'm afraid I don't know this barrier spell well enough to do something like that." Cygnus replied sadly, just as Brilliance, Shinsoo and Ashura found her. Thankfully, The Guardians had made it into the barrier but in a heartbreaking moment, Jenny turned around to face the crowed and saw Athena among them.

"Mom! No! Cygnus, please, try to…"

"I'm sorry Jenny, but I don't know how." Cygnus apologized. The other masters as well walked up to the barrier, sadly looking in among the hundreds of people pressing against the barrier. The rest of the Guardians came to the Barrier as well, saying their saddened goodbyes to their teachers, their friends, their parents.

"Mom, I don't…"

"It's alright Jenny. I knew there would be a day when even we wouldn't be able to escape our fate." Athena replied, putting a hand to the barrier as did the other masters to be met by The Guardians with a small buzz of mana resonating between them as the light from Ereve grew brighter, charging at them in a glories hale of death. Jenny was joined by Shadow who had taken off his mask and stood there waiting, hoping that some miracle would be done at the last moment. But there was no miracle as Shadow and Jenny felt Athena's presence simply vanish from their touch. Cygnus and the other mages did what they could in holding the barrier together as the World Cannon beat upon it mercilessly, bending the spell under it weight.

"CYGNUS! THE BARRIER IS GONNA BREAK! IT WON'T HOLD!" a Priest yelled.

"DON'T GIVE UP! IT WILL HOLD!" she commanded. But as the seconds drug on, the barrier became discolored, starting to crack under the pressure when it unexpectedly stopped. Cygnus and the Mages fell forward when the pressing power had stopped, but were soon met with the mixed sounds of wails and cheers, the fading light revealing the obliteration that sat just outside the barrier where hundreds, if not thousands of people had been just a moment before.

"It's Ereve all over again." Cygus cried, hugging herself on her knees while Brilliance knelt down beside her and enveloped her in his arms, picking her up and disappearing from the crowd into the mayoral office. There was going to be a massive backlash for the people lost outside of the barrier, but Brilliance made it his duty to keep her from that fate for as long as he could.


	21. Chapter 20: The Coward Who Would Be King

**Sorry that it took so long, but here it is**

Chapter 20: The Coward Who Would Be King

Destruction; all that remained of the once great Ossyria was destruction. Clytemnestra fired upon Edelstein five more times after the first failed attempt, each progressively stronger than the last which thankfully was unable to get through with the addition of Helen's power as well as the other mages that had come into the town. When even a 95% charge of the World Cannon didn't erase Edelstein, Clytemnestra turned her frustrated rage onto Ossyria itself: Mu Lung, a once thriving herb garden was nothing but bitter smelling ash. The Minar Forest was now nothing but a vast wasteland of blackened earth, killing every living thing within it. The Dragon's Nest became a glass sea, and the Islands that once supported Ludibrum were on the verge of sinking.

Despite their small victory of saving so many people, there were still hundreds, if not thousands more that were lost because they didn't make it inside the barrier, The Master's included. The people inside prayed that whoever wasn't near the western most continent somehow survived the attack, clinging to one another for comfort.

"I still can't believe she's gone." Jenny sniffled as Patricia sat beside her, keeping silent as she had no idea what to say.

"Neither can I." Matthew said, his shoulders slumping as Yasmin, his mother came over to him and leaned onto his shoulders; she had been thrown under the barrier by Dances with Balrog just before it had made contact with the ground, standing with Matthew when he vanished from their sight.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find the Empress?" a voice called. Jack looked up to see a group of people, ranging in age from a child to an elderly man.

"At the moment I don't know. Can I be of any help?" he asked, trying as best he could to suppress his own feelings to help these people as best he could: he was after all, one of The Guardians.

"Perhaps; Can you explain why it is that _so_ many people were lost? There was at least a few seconds before the world cannon was to hit Edelstein; my husband was among them!"

"A-a-and my wife and granddaughter! What about them?! Do they not matter as much to you?" an elderly man joined in soon followed by the entire crowd, all shouting questions and insults until Matthew and Nathan stepped up and unleashed a well controlled Dragon's Roar above them as Helen began speaking.

"Dost thou think a spell of such power can be thought and brought to bear in an instant? The World Cannon is not a simple thing to defend against!" she shouted.

"You could have activated it later and saved so many people!" A person shouted, stirring the crowed into another bout of insults and questions.

"DID ANY OF YOU STOP TO THINK THAT WE LOST PEOPLE TOO?!" Dumia shouted, stomping the foot of her mecha hard behind the people, making them turn in fear to her.

"Did any of you know that I lost my grandfather out there?! Did any of you know that all the Guardians lost their parents?! DID ANY OF YOU STOP TO THINK THAT WE'RE IN THE SAME POSITION AS YOU?!" Dumia roared, tears streaming down her face as Vondra walked up to Matthew and Aran. Instantly the crowd quieted, looking back to them with less revulsion then previously shown.

"You mean, The Advance Masters are dead?" a child asked, holding a simple stick for a wand as Olsen stepped forward and explained.

"Yes, that is what we're saying, The Advance Master's were our parents if you recall." He said, nearing the verge of tears himself. Lillianne, mostly known as Aran now, looked over to Matthew as Dumia and Vondra both stood next to him; she knew what it was like to lose a parent when her father, the true Aran, passed away a couple years ago and could sympathize with Matthew.

"I'm sorry for taking this out on you. I suppose I'm just looking for some way to…"

"I know. We're all trying to cope." Cygnus finished, catching everyone off guard.

"I am sorry for your loss, for all of your losses. It was a decision of mine to activate the barrier when I did because if I had waited any longer, the barrier would not have been strong enough to thwart the World Cannon, and even then it still had not fully strengthened." She explained, rubbing her temple a bit. The crowd seemed momentarily satisfied with the information given to them, but there was still the matter of their sorrow and that eventually, it might come back in a negative way. Until then, this uneasy peace would have to suffice

* * *

With a heaving cough, Dureau lifted the giant slab covering them, somewhat protecting him and Mastema from where the World Cannon had hit. Mastema set her hands on the ground, stretching hard making her back crack a few times, and as she stood her hand brushed up against his, making a flood of heat come to her cheeks. Memories of her being embraced by Dureau for nearly a day as they hid under the stone came to mind, though most of it was to calm her nerves as she heard the explosions and felt the ground shake beneath them. After the initial attack was over, Mastema quickly calmed trying not to make it so obvious that she was no longer frightened.

"Are you alright Mastema?" Dureau asked when he saw her jerk her hand away.

"Y-y-y-yes, I'm fine." she stuttered. Dureau stared at the wasteland all around them, shaking his head in disbelief: was this what he was following The Black Mage for all those centuries ago?

"We need to get to Edelstein; that seems to be where everyone was headed before the cannon was fired." Dureau announced, taking a moment to think about where he needed to go, picking his way through the fallen trees and scorched earth with Mastema close behind. For what felt like hours they trekked, eventually coming to the sands of the Nihal desert sporting trenches of glass running all throughout it where the World Cannon had been fired.

"I wonder if Magatia survived." Mastema commented.

"If it did, only a few walls will have remained." Dureau commented. Looking at the sun, they found which way they needed to go and began trudging across the vast golden ocean towards Ariant where they would be able to get water to help them on their journey. However the abandoned town they discovered was much more broken down than Dureau had been told, thankfully with the natural Oasis still intact. After some searching, they managed to find a few water skins that hadn't been damaged and filled them as much as they could, slinging them over their shoulders and starting out once more across the desert towards El Nath. As they walked, Mastema's ears twitched, hearing something that sounded as if it were following them underground. From time to time she would stop, turning around to see if anything was there only to find that the sound had disappeared and the sand behind them appeared to have been shifted somehow.

"Mastema? Is everything alright?" Dureau asked, noticing her frequent stops and twitchy demeanor.

"I'm not sure; it sounds like we're being followed, but every time I turn around to see if we are, the sound disappears." Dureau lowered his brow; he too had heard the noise, but passed it off as just being Mastema's footsteps in the sand. With a wave of his hand, Dureau instructed for them to continue while he heightened the amount of Agies he used, amplifying his awareness as they walked. They had only gone a few steps when something felt like it was following them, instantly making Dureau turn and swing his mace hard while a scythe plunged into the sands.

As soon as the blade stopped, a giant serpent burst from beneath the sands, but appeared to have been warped somehow. When the cloud of sand and dust had finally settled, the serpent fixed its gaze on Mastema, diving for her with mouth agape only to catch a mouthful of sand as it was thrown back when Mastema attacked with a wave of her own Ageis. It was only detoured for a moment, quickly regaining its baring and lunging at her again, this time met with Dureau's more potent Ageis and hurled further away. When it returned again, Dureau slammed his mace into the ground making a forest of spikes spring from the ground and skewer the serpent, tearing it apart when it pulled back into the ground.

The two of them turned to leave, certain their pursuer was dead when a chilling wave of something emanated from the corpse. Mastema slowly turned around to see what it was and watched in stunned silence as the serpent Dureau had just torn apart healed all its wounds with a black glow while dark aura hung all around it.

"Dureau look out!" Mastema shouted, shoving Dureau aside as the serpent lunged once again, swallowing her whole in his place.

Dureau did nothing at first, trying to analyze what it was that had just happened in the few seconds that preceded, focusing especially on the look in Mastema's eyes as she pushed him out of the way.

"_Why? Why would you do something like that for me? Is there something that I have missed all these years?_" he thought, watching the serpent turn its head up to swallow its mouthful before turning to him and fixing its gaze on him once more, gathering up its body behind it preparing to strike.

"_I've always expected loyalty from Mastema, but to go this far, there must be something more that I haven't seen; her eyes told of her worry for me, the same as when I returned to the Temple after finding my family killed. Have I really been so blind?_" he asked himself, thinking back to everything that Mastema had done for him while in his service and more recently how he had seen her for so long: a subordinate. Lowering his brow, Dureau looked up at the serpent, anger blazing in his eyes, holding his mace beside him as it fizzed with hot Agies.

"You will return what you have taken if I have to slit your belly and take her out myself!" He shouted. He took a step forward when something wrapped around him hard and began to squeeze, hissing in his ear making his stomach turn as he heard the serpent salivating. As he struggled to break free, the grip on him only became tighter making stars begin to appear in his vision.

"Is this how it will end?" he asked, the last of his breath being pushed from his chest when the first serpent stopped, looking down at its belly where something appeared to be moving around under his skin. Another moment passed until the serpent appeared to writhe, throwing its head back as its belly swelled, then burst open as Mastema shoved her way from it, bounding over to Duerau and cutting through the bands of muscle holding Dureau.

"Mastema! You're…"

"We'll talk after Master! Right now we need to deal with these serpents." She shot back, backing up to Dureau with her sword at the ready. Mentally Dureau sighed a breath of relief and straightened up, watching as the two serpents healed themselves and six more appeared from the sands around them.

* * *

"Tell me, why the World Cannon has ceased to function?!" Clytemnestra demanded as a group of mages examined a large cylinder rising from the Time Sphere into the Upper Clock Tower.

"From what it looks like, there is a conduit that had overloaded and fried. Remember, this stuff is old, and from all record of Ossyria, this is the first time that the Cannon has been used since the beginning of…" the mage was turned to skittering pieces of ash when Clytemnestra waved her hand across her vision where the mage had been before.

"I will only say this once, and I don't want any excuses! Get the cannon working before I lose all my patience! I have been waiting for centuries and I am not about to miss what I have worked so hard for!" she shouted, instantly making all the mages work at an even faster pace, analyzing and repairing the damage to the Rue conduit.

"_All this just to have a world you can rule Corus?" Clytemnestra asked, making The Mage sigh with an agitated breath, mentally turning to her where she appeared to be held in shackles on each of her extremities._

_"All needs to be wiped away so that a new world can be built. I thought I made that clear to you!"He growled. Clytemnestra sadly shook her head as she looked into The Mage's eyes._

_"What made you hate this world so much that you would turn against everything that you and your beloved Minerva had created? What wrong have they done?" For a brief moment, The Mage appeared to have been shaken, awakened from a daze that he had been in for so long._

_"I…" But the moment quickly passed and The Mage returned to his repulsive self; anger and malevolence returning to his eyes as he walked up to Clytemnestra and gently put his hand around her throat, squeezing slightly._

_"If I had no need for your spirit to still live within this body, I would have eliminated you long ago. But seeing as killing you would be counterproductive, I'll settle for putting you in eternal sleep." The Mage smirked, holding his palm to her chest and sending a pulse of Black Magic through her. When the pulse had finished, Clytemnestra leveled her frightened gaze with his._

_"Corus… you're trying to fight this. It's not you that's… making you do… this. Who… are you?" Clytemnestra asked before hanging her head and slumping in the shackles that held her._

_"I am that which Corus to foolishly accepted to rebirth this world. I am, Black Magic. The only reason I'm not going to completely destroy this world is because what remains of Corus's soul is preventing me from doing so; creating a new world order will suffice."_

* * *

"How is that?" Crow asked, making sure that Starling was comfortable as she lay on what remained of a cot left behind in the now abandoned Leafre.

"Better; it still hurts pretty bad though." Starling answered, shifting her position to pull her weight off the side where her gash was.

"Yoshumari is trying to contact the other Seraphim in hopes of calling one of their healers. He says that he could try and heal you himself, but that his knowledge of medical and healing spells is limited and he might not be able to heal you propperly."

"What about the boy? The one who had his arms broken; it seemed as though he was able to heal his arms just fine." Starling pointed out.

"I asked him about that, and he said those wounds weren't life threatening. Though he did add that the bones were healed badly and would either have to be re-broken and set properly by a doctor, or would need to be looked at by a high level Priest or Priestess." Starling nodded, trying to take a deep breath when the stinging in her side prevented her from doing so any deeper.

"Where is he now?"

"I'm right here." Yoshumari responded, the sound of his wings shifting as he walked into the small room, taking Starling's extended hand when she noticed he was covered in dirt and cuts.

"What happened to you? I thought you were going to contact the other Seraphim?" Crow asked.

"I was trying to, but a bunch of Battle Beetles infected with Black Magic charged me from behind. This place isn't safe; we need to get to Edelstein, but I don't want to move Starling too much and risk injuring her further. If I only knew more healing magic then perhaps…"

"Yoshumari, you know enough to heal my wound. I trust you."

"Babe, I don't have the same confidence that you do. Yes I may have healed Latimer's arms, but that was a battle healing. I was never inclined to learn anything beyond…"

"I know you can do it my guardian angel: you won't kill me. I'm too stubborn for that to happen." Starling interrupted, squeezing Yoshumari's hand.

"But I'll leave a nasty scar; it might even hurt long after the wound has healed on its own." Yoshumari protested, looking over the bandages that had been wrapped around her torso along with some healing herbs that hadn't been destroyed.

"I know you'll do the best you can." She replied, sighing with content and turning to the ceiling of their small base. Yoshumari looked to Crow who nodded while he hung his head, fighting the voice in his head telling him that even attempting something like this was a bad idea. Holding his hand forward, he sent a pulse of mana into the air where a giant book surrounded with warm gold light appeared before him, flipping through its pages until it turned to what appeared to be a section of healing methods and boosting spells.

"Why would you need something like this?" Starling asked, looking to the book as it drew near Yoshumari to allow him a better view.

"Cupita, if I'm going to try and heal your wounds I want to get it right. Your wounds are in a place that to my knowledge needs only one slip, and you'll die. You mean too much to me for that to happen: I failed once, I'm not going to do it twice." Yoshumari mumbled, gently sitting Starling up, unwrapping her torso while reading over the book, turning the page to see a diagram of the human body. As he read, the diagram appeared to change until it showed a muscular system when he turned back the previous page, reading over the healing spell more intensely.

Crow watched with amazed anticipation when something caught his attention in the corner of his eye, seeing a giant bug eyeing them with dripping jaws. Yoshumari reached over to Starlings eyes, wiping his palm down to close her eyes and relax her while Crow carefully reached to his belt for his pistol.

"Don't do it crow. I know it's there, but it isn't going to attack, it's just a scout." Yoshumari instructed as he held his hand over Starling's wound where a pale white light grew between his palm and Starling's skin, making her squirm a bit as the wound pulled the flesh back together. Crow kept his eyes on the bug that sat poised behind them, its mandibles dripping with dark saliva while making clicking noises. Just before Yoshumari was to finish, the bug turned and ran off, charcoal dust following its path when Yoshumari collapsed to the ground, panting hard after healing over the wound. Starling sat up and looked down at the torso to see her wound had been healed perfectly, save for a small scar from her belly button to her side.

"I knew you could do it." She said, pulling herself to him and thankfully kissing the side of his head and hugging him close to her.

"I hate to break this up, but we need to move; those bugs are going to be coming back enforce and the most powerful of us is pretty weak." Crow called, standing on the branch of a fallen tree where he could see a large cloud of soot and carcoal on the horizon. Yoshumari willed his legs under him, picking up a branch to use as a walking stick and began to move.

"Listen, I may have been able to close the flesh around Starling's wound but it isn't completely healed and neither of you have the power needed to take on these bugs, especially you Starling." Yoshumari commented, stopping for a moment and holding up his hand, trying to activate his Nalcana but finding that it was weak at best. Crow and Starling reluctantly agreed to his commands and followed after him, making sure to keep a possible hiding spot in view at all times in case something were to happen..

* * *

"What are we to do Phantom? The people have lost their zest for life, and their will to fight against Clytemnestra is gone." Mercedes asked. staring up at the sky with lost eyes.

"There is nothing that we can do. Not until we have found something for them to believe in." Luminous replied, looking over the people from his perch atop the mayoral building where Mercedes and Phantom had joined him.

"Aren't you worried about Lania?" Phantom asked.

"Yes, I am. But for the moment I think she is safe. Clytemnestra hasn't targeted anything in Victoria as of yet, but that could change." He replied, getting a far off look on his face as he turned to Ossyria. Mercedes hung her head as well, thinking to her family and kingdom in Ellul: would they be in any danger? It seemed that Clytemnestra had stopped her assault for the moment, but that could change at any time.

"What if we were to rescue Rhinne?" Phantom asked suddenly.

"From what The New Guardians have said, Rhinne has been missing for some time."

"That's impossible. How did she attend Evan and Mir's memorial then?" Luminous asked when they noticed Olsen walking up to them along the peak of the roof.

"I couldn't help but hear your conversation from the street. From what I remember, Rhinne almost appeared to be searching for someone to talk with but, every time she was about to something else would happen and she wouldn't be allowed to speak. I think she had sent a small part of herself to us to ask for help, but was never given the chance." Luminous pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally beating himself up for not noticing that Rhinne was in such need.

"That's what we'll do then." Phantom announced, pressing a button on his sleeve as the pod for his ship came down.

"What about the barrier? You won't be able to get out!" Mercedes reminded him until Luminous set a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going with you, and I can bend the barrier to let us out. But I would like to ask if you could take me to Victoria first. I need to get Lania before anything happens." Phantom nodded, the three of them soon standing on the bridge and the ship lazily heaving into motion, passing through the barrier with ease before steadily gaining speed.

"We should be in Victoria within a few hours. Get some rest Luminous, you look like you haven't slept in a few days." Mercedes said as the mage agreed and retired to one of the lavish guest quarters.

"A rescue mission such as this is rather bold of you. What's changed?" Mercedes asked turning back to see that Phantom had relieved Renault of his duties for the time being.

"The world that I knew is gone, but its people are still here keeping the spirit of what Ossyria stood for alive. I was too much of a coward back then which is why I left you five at the temple. I've been given a second chance; I'm not going to screw it up this time." Phantom replied, staring straight on ahead and he directed the Lumiere to the Temple of Time when something he said caught her attention.

"Five? Don't you mean four? There were only five of us, remember?" Phantom lowered his brow, looking back to Mercedes with confusion written all over his face.

"Yes, that's what I meant." He said with apprehension.

"_Did I imagine Eunwol being one of us?_" he thought, letting Luminous off in Victoria before quickly guiding the ship through the sheer force winds surrounding the Temple and landing it gently within the main corridor. Upon getting out, they were met by Geridon who explained the situation to them after they explained why it was they had come.

"The only place that seems to have strong energy of any kind coming from it is near where Pink Bean had set up his throne room." Phantom and Mercedes looked to each other and immediately began rushing through the halls, ignoring the guards and monks that tried to block their way, some of them being the unfortunate ones to try and stop the two of them. Even the three Guards of Time were no match for them, taking them down with little more than a wave of their hand.

When they finally burst through the doors leading to the very last room, both of them stopped only able to stare at the sight before them: Rhinne had been encased in a rough glass crystal atop a platform, surrounded by four towers with large orbs atop them. These orbs then had thick threads of power stemming from Rhinne, draining her power making the air all around them feel thick, making it difficult to breathe.

"Amazing isn't it?" a voice wheezed, drawing their attention to the side of the platform where Arkarium pompously walked around it, staring at her with very near lustful eyes.

"All this time, and no one, not even The Mage himself knew what kind of power that she commands. With a single snap of her fingers, she could wipe a city off the face of Ossyria. It's taken weeks of planning, but now that I have her, I haven't even begun draining a tenth of her power; it's amazing!" Arkarium hissed, his facial expression appearing to have become twenty years younger.

"You're sick Arkarium. You tainted her with Black Magic; you tried to kill her for the gain of The Mage!" Mercedes shouted, slowly reaching for the bow gun on her belt.

"You still don't understand! She was never meant to be a goddess! She was meant to be the one that would bring all of Ossyria into a brand new world! Ariel and The Black Mage both drew up a contract stating that very purpose!" Arkarium shouted, turning to the two of them, slamming his staff onto the ground.

"Areil? Areil has been gone for eons, and the Black Mage has only been alive for a few centuries! How could she have drawn up a contract?" Phantom hissed, making Arkarium pull a smirk across his face and shake head.

"I am amazed by your ignorance, Heroes. You have forgotten the fact that the Verus Vicis exists? Not many know about it, nor do they deserve to. But this entire world, all of Ossyria, is nothing but a lie, a phantasm; a single desperate woman's dream!" He shouted, holding his arms wide with a wide grin across his face.

"What do you mean?" Phantom asked.

"This dimension didn't exist before Areil's desperate attempt at postponing the inevitable fate for Rhinne. Since there is no way for The Mage to use her power, he will then rule this world in its place and he will use her for that purpose!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Mercedes shouted, grabbing her guns and firing a barrage of arrows at him which were then deflected when Arkarium swept his hand to the side, power blasting from the mouth of his cobra familiar, eradicating the arrows in a cloud of black magic. With a burst of mana Phantom shot forward, drawing his cane sword and disappearing in a whirlwind that steadily grew larger, drawing in anything that wasn't tied down as he moved nearer. Arkarium smiled, holding out his left hand where a burning skull appeared, making his Cobra Familiar seem to swell with power before swing his staff forward followed by the cobra, hurling itself forward and striking Phantom hard with one of its wings on its hood.

Mercedes crossed her bows over her chest as bright glowing vines reached up her legs, down her arms and across her cheeks making the orbs in her bows glow even more intensely while green light surrounded her eyes, charging forward and firing off arrows that sounded like gunfire. Some of them were deflected by Arkarium's shield spell, but a few of them made it through to his Familiar and disrupting the spell. Phantom pulled himself from the ground, growling hard as he pulled a card from his deck, finding that it was Jenny's Eye of Arrows, slapping it onto the hold on her forearm before drawing out another card, this one depicting his giant Knight. With a burst of mana he hurled it forward, the hazy knight swinging its giant sword where Arkarium stood, only to miss when the old man teleported to another part of the room.

"Ancient spirit of the forest, hear my call and grant me your power for a time!" Mercedes called, as what a giant, glowing elk appeared behind her, rearing up while antlers flashed into place on Mercedes' head before once again charging in. Phantom's missed a swing making him put his cards away, holding his cane forward in the crook o his thumbs as mana rose into the air around him, forming a flame that burst into a crescent moon and stars, descending around him and making the same moon appear on his forehead.

"Let's see how you like this you dirty snake!" Phantom shouted, drawing another card to see the elegant calligraphy written on it: Bad Luck Ward. With a smirk, Phantom pushed mana through the card making the spell within it come blazing to life, engulfing his body in a pale yellow light for a moment before he charged in, alternating attacks with Mercedes, keeping the old man on the constant defensive. If they could keep him this way before their mana ran dry, they could theoretically take him down easily. However as they fought on, Mercedes began to think their battle tactics weren't going to work.

"I don't get it! There's no end to his mana! If this keeps up, we'll never be able to defeat him and free Rhinne!" Mercedes heaved, mentally checking her mana level and guessing that Phantom couldn't be much better off than her.

"I don't think he's using his own mana." Phantom breathed, closing his eyes for a moment, activating the spell with his eye and looking over Arkarium and his familiar.

"How can you know that? Besides, he's a mage. Luminous and Freud always did command a greater reserve of mana than we ever did." Mercedes pointed out as Arkarium looked to be readying another attack spell, this one taking much more time to get ready.

"I know, but he's using the mana of his Familiar. I remember Minerva saying once that if we chose to have a familiar, it would offer us a greater well of mana since they always had many times more mana than even the most powerful of mages." As Phantom finished his explanation, the two of them split ways, avoiding as best they could the strikes of black lightning falling all around them, turning the cobblestone floor into bubbling black molten rock.

"What do you suggest?" Mercedes asked once she was able to get back to Phantom.

"We'll just need to resort to either physical attacks, or our lowest form of attacks. But that could be a problem in your case since your arrows use mana just to activate." Mercedes smirked, deactivating her Eye of Arrows and dismissing her Spirit Surge.

"I'll be alright. I should be able to restore my mana just by using a basic attack." She smiled, taking an extra moment to keep her gaze level with Phantom's before stepping out from their hiding spot to face Arkarium as he searched for them. It would be a long time before that Familiar ran out of mana, but at this point it was their best and only shot.

* * *

With one final hard swing, the last of the serpents were reduced to dark ashes making the few others gathered around them slither away through the sands. Mastema dropped her sword to the ground and fell to her knees panting hard, thankful that the fighting was over. Dureau brought his breathing down to a controlled level, some of his breath leaving his mouth in what remained of his miasma.

"Master Dureau, are you alri…"

"Why did you push me out of the way Mastema?" Dureau interrupted, making her stop and stare over the endless miles of sand before her. Her cheeks red but she wasn't sure if it was from the heat of the desert or from the flush she felt spreading through her chest and face.

"I-I was worried about you." She answered meekly, lowering her eyes when she heard Dureau walk around to face her.

"That isn't all, is it Mastema?" He asked, kneeling down before her making her turn her head all the further to hide her embarrassment. Mastema leaned back onto her feet, shifting her hands in her lap for a long while before being able to calm her thumping heart and face Dureau once again.

"That, and I had a thought of what my life would have been without you. You've done so much for me, even from the day that we first met and you saved me from a life of horrible experiments. It was the least I could do for you." She answered confidently, losing all will to stay as such when she saw that the look on his face was much gentler than she ever remembered.

"That still isn't it, is it Mastema?" he asked, making her turn away again as her cheeks flared, laying down her ears and shifting from one leg to the other uncomfortably under his piercing gaze until she felt his hand grasp her chin, pulling her bright red face to him, making her stutter for an answer.

"I-I-I-I have… at first my… I felt that I owed you a great debt ever since you saved me. But over time, that gratitude became s-s-s-s-something more. But due t-t-to our being of different rank, I-I-I-I felt that it would be inappropriate to even consider affections towards you. I tried to burry my feelings, but they only became stronger." She managed to say before pulling away from his grasp, lowering her eyes once again.

"After your battle with the mage, I thought you had died, and so kept my feelings for you within the deepest part of my heart. Secretly I had hoped that in the time we spent together, you felt the same as I did, and when I found that you were alive I was so happy." As she spoke tears began forming in her eyes, darkening the sand where her tears landed.

"But when you acted the same as you had all those years ago, it very near broke my heart to know that you still only saw me as a subordinate. However I decided that despite all the signs, I would still serve you and love you from afar. My only downfall was that my feelings for you only became stronger, so much so that it hurt. I love you Master Dureau, I don't know if you accept my feelings, or can even acknowledge them but I do; I love you Dureau. More than you may ever know." She cried, turning her eyes to the ground, feeling that she had exposed her deepest of emotions to a man she didn't know would return her feelings. When a long silence followed afterwards, Mastema's tears began to dry with the realization that even after all of that, Dureau still had no feelings, only to be stunned when she felt Dureau put his arms around her and pull her towards him in a firm embrace.

"Mastema, I have always appreciated your loyalty. But it has only been recently that I have finally seen what I have been so blind to all these years. No longer are you my comrade, or my subordinate. Mastema, I too…" Dureau was cut short when Mastema quickly pressed her lips to his, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips and body more firmly against Dureau's, her tears becoming ones of utter happiness.

"_Dureau, thank you." _Mastema thought. Dureau didn't move for a moment until he put his own arms around her, letting himself feel something once again when so much of what he cared for had been taken from him. All this time, he thought he would never be able to feel anything again, but the cure for his broken heart was right before him all this time, right here in this lowly cat demon Mastema. Another few moments passed when something began swirling around them both, throwing their hair into the wind and it curled around them making the air even hotter than it already was. Dureau's Agies began to feel like it was swelling on his arm, almost feeling like it were burning his arm, flowing through his body and into his wings, making the tattered edges of his wings instantly heal, making them grow in size and glow with comforting purple light.

Mastema pulled away and looked at his wings with wonder, reaching out and touching one of them, pulling away slightly when a shock shot through her arm.

"Your wings, they're back to normal." She breathed, smiling as she looked down at her own Agies, seeing that it had doubled in strength, making her own wings become slightly larger as well.

"Thank you Mastema, for lending me your power until I became stronger. I now return it to you with interest." Dureau said, cupping her jaw and gently pressing his lips to hers once more as their power began to resonate, distorting the air into a gentle golden glow.

* * *

It took some time, but the three of them were finally able to outmaneuver the bugs, turning their heading for what remained of Victoria instead, figuring that Clytemnestra wouldn't aim the World Cannon so close to her own castle. Maybe even finding their way to Ellul where Starling could be looked over by a more skilled healer to make sure that he had done everything right.

"Are you sure you're alright? You looked pretty worn out a while back." Starling asked as Yoshumari straightened his back, cracking his shoulders and neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It feels as if most of my mana has returned, so I'm not quite as worn out any longer." He replied, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him as they walked. Crow smirked as he watched the two of them, slightly jealous in fact, but knowing that they already had a well established relationship between the two of them. But as they walked, Yoshumari could feel many a presence following them all around, surrounding then in fact as they trekked through the charcoal wasteland and nearing the Ellinia boarder.

"Uh, Yoshumari…"

"I know Starling. Just keep moving; if they attack, it'll just about be over for us. I may be feeling better, but I still don't have the energy needed to keep my Nalcana on a powerful plain for very long."

"Then what's going to happen once we get inside of Victoria? The creatures there are even more powerful than those following us!" She hissed back, making Crow's face pale slightly, setting his hand on the butt of his gun.

"As long as we don't provoke them, they won't attack. I have a feeling that once we get inside Victoria, these creatures will leave us alone." Yoshumari answered quickly, looking around more carefully since the closer they got to Victoria, the thicker and more abundant the trees of the Minar Forest became.

"I guess you were right about Clytemnestra not wanting to pull the aim on that cannon further down." Starling commented.

"I don't think it's so much and not wanting to aim closer, than it is being unable to aim closer." Yoshumari answered, taking note of a definitive line where the destruction stopped. Just as he thought, the tainted creatures following them from Minar stopped, but the new tainted dangers that swarmed around then, thankfully acting as if they weren't there. However, the path they needed to take was obstructed by large, mutated pigs, each of them walking as though on patrol.

"Remember what I said about not egging them on? This is that moment; I don't want either of you to even draw you weapons. From what I can sense, they are aware of your pistols, but don't see you as a threat at the moment. Just stay close, and don't do anything stupid." Yoshumari warned, leading the two of them through the crowd with careful steps to avoid bumping into any of the pigs and risk setting them off in a large battle. Nearly half way through them, the ground began to heave and sway before them where a giant orange capped mushroom pushed up through the earth, growling low as it surfaced and looked down on them with its empty white eyes.

Tense moments passed as the trio carefully moved around the giant creature, all the while shuddering under its fixed gaze until they were beyond it, carefully picking their way through the crowd of pigs once more, sometimes stopping and waiting for a group of them to move or break up.

* * *

Clytemnestra walked to her mirror when she felt something different around her castle: the power felt, heated. Waving her hand before the mirror, it appeared to ripple and reveal an image of Yoshumari and two others with him, carefully weaving their way through the giant pig soldiers that surrounded Ereve.

"It appears that Dragon has wandered into the very heart of darkness itself." She laughed to herself, placing her hands on the mirror and pulling them apart, magnifying part of an image before her of something on the girl.

"Oh, and it looks like we have an injured one. This shouldn't be too arduous." She chuckled, letting the mirror return to its original view.

"Why are you going to waste your time on those three? You already have the World Cannon at your disposal, and it'll only be a matter of time before you'll be able to break through the barrier around Edelstein." Magnus huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the image over her shoulder.

"That Seraphim has a way of getting into things that he shouldn't. And besides, it will offer some good entertainment." She laughed, grabbing a goblet of some indecipherable thick liquid and laying across the bed in a most tempting fashion before flipping her wrist.

"What of Arkarium and his efforts in draining Rhinne's power? Is this another of your stunts like the Dream Fragments?" Magnus asked, watching the mirror as the eyes of the pigs glowed black for a moment before turning their attention to the trio.

"No no, Arkarium's duty is indeed needed. You see, I need the Goddess's power to help restore this Cannon to its former glory and power. Since it is very old, there is only so much a weapon like this can handle before it begins breaking down. But I don't expect that old relic to succeed; the cannon will work, with or without the help of the goddess." Clytemnestra smiled, turning her attention back to the mirror and the show that was about to begin.

* * *

Starling noticed that something was different about the pigs as they walked passed them, their eyes becoming a dark color and focused on them as they walked by.

"Babe…" She whispered, stumbling a bit as she continued to look up around them.

"I know." He whispered back, swallowing hard: he still didn't have enough energy for a fight of this caliber and beyond that, he hadn't eaten anything in a day so his energy was even lower.

"What do we do now? It looks like they've been commanded to do something." Crow said as he backed up to Yoshumari, resting his hand on the butt of his guns, his fingers itching and dancing across the triggers. Yoshumari looked up to the sky, regaining his bearings with the position of the sun.

"Alight, I don't have a lot of energy, but I can buy a little time. I'm going to distract and attract these guys off to the side as much as I can. In those few moments, I want you to run as fast as you can that way." He said, pointing in the direction of Ellinia, holding out his left hand as his Nalcana energy fizzled into existence in his palm in the shape of a scythe.

"What about you?" Crow asked.

"Once you're at full speed, I'll fly to you and pick you up. We'll fly to Ellul from here." He whispered, lowering his stance as he readied to fight.

"What if something follows us? Why not just fly us up from here?" Starling pointed out.

"That's a risk we have to take; I can't fly you two out of here from a dead stop because I don't have the energy it takes. Just follow my orders." He hissed, repositioning himself and slowly walking towards one side of the circle they had been surrounded in. With a quick swing, Yoshumari cleaved the first pig near him in half, darting away and catching the attention of the rest of the pigs, all of them trying to pummel him which led them to sometimes pummel each other. Just as planned, Starling and Crow began running, sometime tripping over fallen branches that blocked their path, but still pressing onwards.

Starling's side began to ache as she ran, her breathing becoming harder and her steps becoming steadily slower until a sudden black out made her fall to the ground. Crow skidded to a stop, pulling her from the ground and onto his back, trying to run but since his physical training was far less than most of the Silent Crusade soldiers, he couldn't move as fast.

Yoshumari cleaved through three more pigs before his energy simply wasn't enough to support such powerful swings, making the Nalcana give out and his scythe disappear, resorting to his fists and wings. With a glance in the direction he needed to fly, he saw Crow carrying Starling and grit his teeth: carrying one of them in each arm was difficult enough as it was, but now he would have to pick both of them up at once in an awkward position. With one final strike, Yoshumari planted both feet in the face of a pig and launched hard, streaking to the two of them, first grabbing Starling off Crow's back and throwing her onto his own, then putting his arms under Crows and bolting into the sky. However the energy Yoshumari felt was only temporary as his adrenalin fueled battle rage began to wear off making his shoulders and wings feel even weaker than they had before.

"Hey, you ok up there?" Crow asked, not liking the notion of being let drop from their height to the ground when he felt Yoshumari falter a bit.

"I don't think I'm going to make it. I've use up too much energy." He replied, breathing harder as he went, willing his hands and wings to work.

"We're almost there. We just passed Ellinia itself and it should be… right there! The Guardians gave a detailed report to Starling about this place not long ago." He shouted, as Yoshumari thankfully descended, awkwardly crash landing through the gate into the very heart of the city. When the elves there tried to tend to Yoshumari, he simply shrugged them off and pointed to Starling.

"Make sure she's fine before getting to me. Crow! Where are you?"

"I'm ok Commander!" He called, sitting up and stretching his back. Yoshumari slumped to the ground, dropping his massive wings and just lay there, panting from over working his body when a healer came over to him, pushing a pulse of mana through his body.

"You've very well nearly depleted all of your energy: even your mana is gone. What on earth possessed you to do such a thing?" the healer asked, grabbing a bottle of orange liquid and handing it to him.

"Big fight… on edge… of Henesys. Desperate move… to get here… before going…. To Edelstein." He panted, sipping on the bottle slowly as it took effect and restored his energy.

"What about the girl? Is she alright?" He asked.

"She will be fine, though there is a bit of damage to her diaphragm. Her wound looks as though it were healed by either a very poor Cleric, or a novice." The Healer said looking through his bag for a needle to stitch a wound closed on his shoulder.

"It was me. A few hours ago, I used a healing spell that I was never taught, but used what I knew to heal her wound as best I could until a better Priest could look at it and heal her properly." He answered, making the healer stop and raise his eyebrows for a moment.

"Well then, I must say you did a fairly good job for someone so inexperienced." The healer praised, wiping some antiseptic herbs across his wound before sewing it back together.

* * *

Again Phantom darted in and out of Arkarium's range, sometimes taunting him, other times striking the familiar in hopes of reducing its supply of mana. Mercedes as well used Phantom's tactics of darting around steadily building her mana back up, but at the same time was quickly wearing herself out leaving her unable to use her more powerful attacks.

"What's the matter 'Heroes'? You seem to be getting slower!" Arkarium wheezed, hurling another powerful spell at the duo when his Familiar hissed, turning to him.

"How can you become tired?! You will obey my commands until you are dead, do you understand?!" he howled, making the cobra look to become angry, baring its fangs to him. Mercedes had stopped for a moment to catch her breath, but when she saw that the two of them were arguing, it gave her an idea, waving Phantom over to her to explain her plan.

"Do you think you can agitate the situation between them?" Phantom looked to them, watching as Arkarium was searching for them, but at the same time seeming to be trying to regain control of his familiar.

"Why, what do you have in mind?" he panted, vigilant of what was around them in case the old coot decided to attack without warning.

"If we can get them apart, I think we have a chance of defeating Arkarium once and for all." Mercedes explained, nodding towards where the two of them had once again began arguing in full.

"I'll try, but the only one I was able to be that persuasive with was Aria…" Phantom stopped mid sentence, realizing what it was that he had said, growling in his throat to himself and shaking his head slightly.

"I'm sorry… I'll try." He huffed, looking for a place that he could use as a pedestal so they could see him better, though having to move as soon as he was in sight when Arkarium launched an attack, forcefully pulling mana from the cobra.

"What's the matter old man? Having trouble with your snake?" Phantom teased, moving a bit to the side to avoid being hit by what seemed to be a particularly powerful spell.

"SILENCE! MY FAMILIAR IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!" He shouted, drawing mana out of the cobra once again to empower his spell, making Phantom notice the cobra becoming exceedingly strained and tired.

"If you keep drawing on that familiar you're going to kill it! Don't you want that Familiar to stay with you for all your battles?" Phantom asked, making the cobra open its narrowed eyes and listen to what Arkarium would have to say in response to this.

"A familiar is simply meant to obey its master's wishes and nothing more. If they cannot fulfill that duty, then they are of no more use." He said coolly, holding his hand out towards the cobra to draw even more mana from it when he missed its position and looked back to see the cobra reared up on its body, slowly opening its mouth with venom dripping down it fangs.

"YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!" Arkarium screamed, raising his hand to draw more mana from it, but having to teleport himself away from it when the cobra whipped its tail through where he was standing.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! I AM YOUR MASTER!" He howled, watching as the cobra slithered behind Phantom and Mercedes, spreading its hood and hissing at him loud enough that the very around his mouth seemed to quiver. With a rage fueled screamed, Arkarium focused his power onto the flaming skull in his hand, slamming it on the ground and releasing a wall of flames that exploded from his body. Mercedes pulled dropped her guns, putting her arms around him and crossing her wrists as water shot up from the ground, surrounding them and dissipating the flames in a cloud of steam.

Once the flames had passed, the Cobra leapt over them, swinging its tail where Arkarium stood, stopping his next attack and making him teleport away where Phantom stood waiting. However his hard cane swing was stopped by Arkarium's staff, Black Magic flowing from it like a cloud creating a bright bluish purple light while orbs began appearing on the ground around them. Mercedes felt the itch of something in the air and summoned all the strength she could as pale green fairy wings appeared on her back. But just as she was to launch forward, a stab of pain shot through her calf bringing her to the ground. Phantom tried to move out of the way when he felt the static of the attack building all around him, but was too late as the bolts shot up from the ground and shocked him hard.

"PHANTOM!" She screamed, reaching out to him as she watched him writhe, screaming in agony until the lightning stopped and left him in a smoking heap. With a sneer, Arkarium stepped over his body, ominously making his way towards Mercedes as she shakily stood to her feet, grabbing her Bow Guns and taking aim as rings of green light formed on their fronts. A crystal made of solid mana began to form in the center, but was shattered when Arkarium swung his staff and unleashed a wave of black magic, the explosion from the two forces meeting tossing her back. Phantom struggled to his feet, forcing his body to move the way he wanted to as he drew a card, hurling it forward enveloping the old mage in a cloud of burning cards. But when the cards cleared, Arkarium was surrounded by a pillar of what appeared to be hexagonal plates of light.

"You two have fallen so very far from the heroes that I once knew. It's a pity that you weren't able to entertain me more." Arkarium laughed, holding up his staff as dark light began gathering around it while dark swirls appeared in the air, making them get up and walk towards each other. Phantom drew his cane sword and held it forward while Mercedes held her bow guns straight out to him, her Spirit Arrows glowing with hot light. As they neared one another, they both began fighting the influence that Arkarium had over them, trying to aim their weapons away from each other only to find that his hold over them was becoming stronger.

"Mercedes, we can still get out of this; just concentrate all your mana…"

"Phantom, I'm all out of mana. Every last bit I had is in the arrows." Mercedes interjected, walking until her torso touched the tip of Phantom's sword, pushing on her skin slightly while she watched her arm take aim at his head. For what seemed like a long while, the two of them were allowed to lock eyes, silently apologizing and forgiving one another for what they were about to do. The cobra hissed, almost roared as it charged at Arkarium only to be held in mid air while Arkarium absorbed every ounce of mana from it, tossing the unconscious body to the side. Turning his attention back to Phantom and Mcercedes, he almost could laugh at the expression on their faces.

"You honestly care for that pathetic creature?" he wheezed.

"That creature was your familiar! You could have killed it just by doing that!"

"But I didn't. Your prattling will get you nowhere." he snickered, holding up his staff making Phantom begin to move forward, pushing his sword further into Mercedes' abdomen with painstakingly slow movement.

"I'm sorry that I didn't come to know you better Phantom." She said as the pain began to mount.

"There isn't much to know." He smiled back, as Mercedes leaned forward and pressed the end of her gun to his temple, tightening the grip around the trigger as the sizzling arrow began to burn his skin, feeling the tip of his sword beginning to break her skin when her skin began to itch and a loud explosion stuck where Arkarium was. Quickly they checked themselves over for wounds, but found no more than they had inflicted to one another when something landed hard beside them.

"I hope I wasn't too late." Someone called as they turned to see Eva and Luminous atop D'Or as she stood with a grand stance as she looked down to them.

"When did you…"

"Luminous told me about what you two were up to. Helen and Patricia both told me how bad Arkarium is, and I knew that you wouldn't stand a chance without at least some back-up." Eva smiled as Luminous jumped off and Eva once again took to the skies.

"It's a good thing that I showed up when I did; another second or two and we wouldn't be having the pleasant conversation." Luminous scolded, focusing his attention on Arkarium as he struggled to his feet.

"It's over Arkarium; give yourself up what you still have some dignity left in you." Luminous demanded, light blazing to life on the end of his staff.

"A general of the Black Wings never surrenders." He hissed, stumbling a bit as he looked back to the giant crystal that Rhinne was encased in, seeing that some of it had begun to crack and three of the four draining pillars had been accidently destroyed. He raised his staff once more to attack, only to be pinned to the ground when D'Or landed and held him under foot, knocking his staff from his hand and crushing the small skull he had used in focusing his magic.

"Then you will be taken prisoner." Eva hissed and D'Or lowered her head, fire brewing in the back of her throat, licking at her lips from between her clenched teeth.

"I think not." Arkarium answered as a portal opened behind him, swallowing him from their view before winking out. Luminous swore with a growl, hurling the spell that he had been saving into the air, lighting the sky in a brilliant flash of white. When he saw the crystal that Rhinne was in he took a calming breath and smiled, bowing his head and looking back to the others.

"You two really pulled a suicide stunt: don't ever do that without telling me again." He sighed, walking up the platform to the crystal and running his hand over it to feel out whether or not this was a spell, or indeed an actual crystal.

"What about Lania? Is she ok?" Mercedes asked.

"I'm actually right here." She called, stepping out from her hiding spot just a few yards away from where they had been fighting, walking over to them at the base of the platform.

"Wait… how is it that you ran across Eva and D'Or?" Phantom asked, confused about the entire ordeal.

"She actually followed us to Victoria when we left, using what remained of the barrier's instability we created to get through. She said it was to get her mind off what happened a few days ago." Luminous explained as D'Or shifted to her human form while Mercedes and Phantom approached the crystal as well, noting the cracks that had begun to form along the front.

"Do you think we'd be able to shatter the crystal from around her?" Eva asked.

"There is no way to tell if Rhinne herself has been crystallized. If so much as a crack hits her body, it could easily kill her." Luminous called over his shoulder as he further studied it, trying to find the anchor to this seeming spell. As he ran his hand over the crack in the crystal once again, light began to emanate from it, gradually becoming more and more intense further cracking the crystal from around her body until the top of it blew off all at once, showering the entire area in crystal shards. Luminous managed to protect them from the shards with a dome of light, lowering it once Rhinne turned her malicious intent to the towers that had been sapping her power.

"Goddess? Are you…"

"Yes Mercedes, I am alright. Thank you for coming to my rescue. Arkarium sprung a trap that activated the sleeping seal put on me by the Temple, thus allowing him to put me in this devise." Rhinne smiled, gliding down to them with a benevolent smile when she noticed the cobra laying on the ground behind them, breathing with such scarcity it almost looked dead.

"Is that not the familiar of Arkarium?" she asked, walking over to it and holding out a hand to it. The cobra opened its eyes and flared its hood wide, rearing up and baring its fangs to her, visually struggling to remain in an aggressive stance. Mercedes and Phantom readied to attack, but stopped when Rhonne held up her hand to them, telling them to stop.

"Peace great familiar, I will heal you." she soothed. For a few tense moments, to cobra didn't do anything except stare at her with its piercing eyes until he succumbed to his exhaustion and slumped back down to the ground, allowing Rhinne to begin restoring its mana and healing it wounds.

"From what The New Guardians have told us, you were missing for a week before Evan and Mir's memorial, so how were you able to show yourself?" Eva asked, a few tears coming to her eyes when the thought of her parents came to mind.

"I am sorry for your loss Eva, truly. But to answer your question, it was a method I taught Carta long ago, enabling myself to separate a small bit of myself into a mana golem. I came seeking help for my situation, but when I saw what it was that had happened, I held back, waiting for a chance to once again seek help." She answered, fishing with the familiar then turning to embrace each of them with a thankful hug.

"Despite my power being sapped by this device, it was a fortunate mistake by him, removing the Black Magic from my body that he had poisoned me with so many centuries ago." She smiled, finally able to hear the voice of the temple clearly for the first time in so very long. Phantom's burn was healed, as was Mercedes small wound on her stomach by Rhinne when Mercedes noticed Phantom walking away from the group and standing on the edge of the room.

"Phantom, what are you doing over here?" Mercedes asked, placing a hand on his shoulder which he pulled away from.

"Don't, just stay away from me."

"Phantom, what is it that you…"

"I am a curse, Mercedes. Everywhere I have gone, those that I care about have been taken from me. My parents, Raven, Aria… I very nearly killed you!" Phantom shouted, turning to her with something that almost looked to be tears.

"But you didn't. I'm still here." She answered, walking towards him once again, grabbing his hand.

"But my very life and has proven that those I care about are in danger. It could only be a matter of time before something happens to you." Phantom argued, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I don't want you to become another tragedy attached to my name. I care for you too damn much." He whimpered. Mercedes gently put her arms around him, tightening her embrace in return, putting a hand on his head.

"I won't." She answered, closing her eyes and pulling away from him, placing her hands on the side of his head, making him stare into her eyes for a long while before the they both leaned into each other, pressing their lips together as the sun began to set, gracing the temple with a orange glow. Phantom didn't know if Mercedes prediction would remain true, but he would allow himself to trust what she _had _promised, and do everything in his power to make sure she wasn't an addition to his past.

* * *

Arkarium fell out of his portal onto the cold ground, huffing and wheezing as he pulled his feet under him, getting to his knees when he felt a gentle breeze blow past him, looking up from the ground where he lay to see Clytemnestra standing over him, hovering in the air as her robes and hair flowed gracefully in a gentle unseen breeze.

"Master, I…"

"What happened Arkarium? You had the Goddess in your hands and you let her be taken away from you, when you specifically told me there would be no way for her to be taken away from you." She asked with a hiss, staring at him hard enough to almost drill straight through his chest.

"My familiar began to fight me. I promise that I will get her back…"

"YOU WILL NOT! The goddess no long has the Black Magic within her thanks to your carless actions, and her power is now back to full strength! You failed to bring me the Goddess' power not once, but twice."

"Master please, let me…"

"You bringing her power to me wasn't needed; I _NEVER _needed her power back then. But I did this day."

"Master…"

"I allowed you to redeem yourself after your failure the first time, and you failed me again, so I no longer have need of you."

"MASTER I CAN…" but Arkarium's pleas were silenced as Clytemnestra drew her hand to the side, turning what was once the powerful mage Arkarium into nothing but flakes of skittering ashes.

"What a waste of magic." She hissed, turning away from what remained as the apparatus behind her glowed, trickling magic into her to replace what she had used. She would rule this world, and if she had to do it all by herself, then she would. There was always a steady stream of people that could be used for what he wanted.


	22. Chapter 21: Chaos, In That Order

**So yeah... its been a while since i updated this story... no excuse... yeah...**

Chapter 21: Chaos, In That Order

"I thought you said that you were going to Edelstien?" Elusa asked, going back to folding a rather large bunch of laundry she had pulled off the line, watching the young girl devour a bit of food she had been provided. Elusa had seen the light from right above where Henesys was, and worried that something terrible would come to her home on the outskirts of Ellinia just south of Perion's desert mountain range.

"Oh I am, but there is something that I must take care of first." The girl replied, wiping her mouth and putting the dishes she had used into a tub of water to wash them.

"I'll take care of those. Are you sure you can't stick around any longer?" Elusa asked as the girl picked up her cloak, flinching a bit when the dull ache in her side reminded her that she needed to take it easy for a little while.

"No I can't. Thank you very much for treating my wound and for this delicious meal." She called, turning and beginning to walk away when Elusa called after her.

"Will you at least tell me your name so that I can find you if I ever go to Edelstien?" Elusa asked. The girl stopped, thoughts running through her head about what answer she would give her that wouldn't turn this kind woman against her.

"My name's Orchid." The girl replied, turning and offering her the best faked smile that she could. Elusa smiled in return, pondering her name for a moment before waving to her as she left into the forests of Ellinia.

"_I know I've taken out my pig tails and grown some in the past few weeks using spells I found in the fairy's library, but if anyone knew who I really am then I wouldn't stand a chance."_ She thought, walking through the dense forest when she stopped and saw a Fire Fern reaching out across the path. It brought back memories from so long ago when she had been rescued by Mercedes from a painful death. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial containing a bluish brown gel-like liquid within it, shaking it a bit to make sure she was seeing the right amount.

"_The mana given to me by the sylphs is nearly gone since I used most of it on those growth spells. I have enough for maybe one moderately strong spell should I need to use it, but then I'll be defenseless. I just hope I don't run into any trouble. Hang on Lotus; I'm coming to get you."_

* * *

At first, the return of the Heroes to Edelstien didn't rouse the surge of people's spirits as they had hoped.

"I thought that she was safe in the Temple?" a young man asked, obviously trying to cozy up to Rhinne as unobvious as he could.

"She was, but the heroes did manage to defeat Arkarium to get her back, one of the Black Mage's most powerful generals." Dumia explained as Aran came over to them and handed her a cool glass of water.

"What happened to him anyway?" Aran asked, taking a sip herself after nudging the man's shoulder as if to tell him to maintain.

"I don't know. But if past references serve well, I doubt Arkarium's life is still intact." Steadily, Rhinne was introduced to the people that had been protected from the World Cannon in the city, listening to each of their sorrows, frustrations, and angers. Once people began to see that Rhinne was walking among them along with Cygnus, everyone slowly began to brighten. The mood throughout the entire city lightening with just their presence and a new drive filtering into them making whispers and low conversations buzz through the city:

"If the Heroes could do it then and now, why couldn't we?"

"The Black Wings really _can_ be defeated!"

"What about Clytemnestra? Can she be defeated?"

"If Arkarium was defeated by four people, how hard could she be?" People everywhere began to rally each other up, building their moral with each passing hour and finding more people gathering together to begin formulating an attack plan. The noises from outside began filtering through to the very back of the infirmary where Vita was taking care of the fallen general Hilla.

Seconds passed as though they were hours as she stirred, grunting and grousing as the sounds reaching into her mind gently woke her. Vita ran as quickly as she could to get the leaders of the Edelstein High Guard who all surrounded her bed when Hilla opened her eyes, looking around at all of them through the narrow openings of her eye lids.

"Where am I?" she asked in a whisper.

"I am Claudine of the Edelstein High Guard: you are in the infirmary. Your defeat resulted in some serious injuries that we have been taking care of until you woke up." Claudine answered, making Hilla open her eyes further to see another young woman she recognized as the Empress and a few strong looking men surrounding her bed.

"How did my defeat end in my injuries?" Hilla asked sharply, trying to sit up with some difficulty because of her weakened state.

"You were injured by one of The New Guardians after making an attempt on Luminous' life while his back was turned." One of the young men replied. Hilla scoffed and shook her head.

"Why take pity on one of your enemies? I don't need your pity. You know that I could simply wipe you all out right here don't you?" Hilla seethed, looking to Claudine with a rather well faked intimidating look in her eyes.

"We are not the Black Wings. It may prove to be counterproductive, but we must try to save everyone that we can." Cygnus replied making Hilla turn a sad smile on her face.

"What do you care? I'm a dead woman walking. Once Clytemnestra has figured out that I've been captured if she hasn't already, I'm sure she'll be coming for me." Hilla sighed making Cygnus sit down on her cot.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again; we aren't the Black Wings. And we won't let Clytemnestra hurt you more than her already has." The last comment made Hilla look sharply to Cygnus as she was about to reply when Claudine interrupted her.

"We know your story Hilla. The Black Mage used your broken heart as a weapon against you, turning you against your people, and the very man that you loved."

"I don't want your sympathy!" Hilla snapped.

"Too bad, you have it." Claudine snapped in return making Hilla almost feel defenseless; no one had ever matched her with intimidation while she was a general, but now that she was reduced to a dead woman walking, she wasn't in the same position of power any longer.

"I'm you prisoner than?" she asked, bowing her head. The Black Wings had a policy against such things, and capture was considered on the same plain as defection, making her push her tongue against a tiny pocket of deadly cyanide laced with a potent form of Black Magic.

"No, you are a guest." Cygnus answered, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Hilla sighed and looked away: she had done so many things that she wasn't proud of, but fighting these people while the Black Mage was still in power were some of the best days of her life.

"Why would you want to help me when I could so easily wipe you out, and in the heart of your city no less?"

"Because you're human just like the rest of us: all of us can be hurt, all of us can make mistakes. But when we make mistakes, it doesn't mean the end of one's life. Yes, we may become angry when someone makes a mistake, but we also hope that the one who made it will learn from it." Cygnus answered. Hilla was steadily accepting the help that was being given to her, but there was still something holding her back from completely giving in.

"What is it that you want from me?" Hilla asked, looking first to Claudine, then looking Cygnus squarely in the eyes.

"Information; you've committed a great many atrocities in your life against the people of Azwan, and against Ossyria. There is no punishment that I, the Empress or the High Guard can give you to match your crime. In return for your cooperation, you will be allowed to live out the rest of your natural life in atonement for that you have done. And you can start by telling us anything you can about Clytemnestra and how to defeat her." Cygnus answered with an edge in her kind voice. Hilla sighed, shaking her head to the eager and massively misplaced amount of trust they gave her. But she also knew that she could never return to the Black Wings alive for her capture, deciding to accept the deal they were offering.

"Very well; the one in control of Clytemnestra's body is not the girl who should be. The one in control of her body is the Black Mage himself."

* * *

Yoshumari looked around once more, making sure that there were no other creatures surrounding Edelstein and was about to descend when something caught his eye landing on the coast. With a gentle bank he swooped in to get a better look, finding that it was Dureau and Mastema walking… hand in hand?!

"Hey bebe? What's wrong?" Starling asked as the three of them landed carefully after feeling Yoshumari falter for a moment.

"It's nothing, I just saw something that I didn't expect." He answered as the three of them walked closer to where the entrance of Edeolstien was and where Dureau and Mastema were also waiting.

"…what more evidence do you need? I am Dureau, the Demon Slayer of the high Guard!" Dureau shouted to a guard standing on the inside of the barrier.

"I'm sorry, but my orders are from Cygnus herself. Until someone from the Empress' Knights of the High Guard can verify your identity, you'll just have to wait outside the Barrier." The Battle Mage replied, making Dureau take a calming, but still take agitated breath, slowly reaching for his mace when he was stopped by Mastema who set a hand on his.

"We'll wait." She said as the soldiers turned to leave just as the other three were nearing them.

"I see you survived the World Cannon Dureau." Crow announced with a cocky smile. Dureau looked back to him with an unemotional glare, taking his hand from the mace.

"I survived a direct assault from the Black Mage himself. I doubt that some cannon would kill me so easily." He answered, turning back to the empty road before him, waiting impatiently for the guards to return so they could let him in.

"Yoshumari, I've wanted to ask this for some time, but I never seemed to have found the chance: when Eleanor died and you went all crazy, does that mean you're more powerful? I've always heard it said that Seraphim only use a small portion of their full potential Nalcana power." Starling asked, playing back the scene in her head when his wings ruptured from his back and the power of his Nalcana was nearly the same level as the Black Mage's.

"Sadly, no: In all actuality I am _less_ powerful. As I'm sure you know, when a Seraphim loses control, their full power is brought to bear, but in doing so it warps the Nalcana and our body. Much in same the way when steel is stretched; it may still be strong but no matter how you try, it will never be the same strength again." Yoshumari explained, holding his hand out as a cloud of his Nalcana power hummed to life in his hand, taking on the shape of a small dagger. At first glance it seemed that the power was still the same inky nighttime-like energy, but upon a closer look, Starling could see what appeared to be stress marks rippling across its form, as well as some of the star-like specs being a distorted color.

"Are you Ok?" she asked, reaching out and touching the blade only to pull back her hand when is shocked her.

"I managed to look through the records of the Seraphim not too long ago, finding that not many have survived the battle involving the unfortunate release of their full power. The few that did survive the fight died shortly after because their mana and life force had been drained. Of those, only six, myself included have ever survived fully; though the effects on our bodies as well as our Nalcana have varied." Deactivating the Nalcana, he followed Dureau and Mastema into the barrier where he was asked to wait while the soldiers confirmed who he was.

"What effects do you mean by having varying effects?"

"Of those six that survived, one Seraphim managed to maintain his high power level. Unfortunately, the immense amount of power coursing through his body drove him insane, and the only thing the ancient Seraphim could do was seal him and place him under the main sanctuary of the Seraphim Temple. Another's body had its energy strained so much, that it couldn't even support the Nalcana in its dormant state and had to remove it from its body. Another maintained their body energy, but the energy of the Nalcana was so strained and warped that it couldn't hold a solid form if it hit anything." Once it was confirmed who he was Starling and Yoshumari parted ways with Crow as he went off to look around the town, while the other two followed Dureau back to where the High Guard had made their headquarters.

"Were any of those Seraphim wielders of the Dark Nalcana?" Starling asked. She had heard that among his people, the Dark Nalcana was the most powerful and considered a great honor to wield. However his telling her that one of the Seraphim had gone insane troubled her: she had almost lost him once to death 18 years ago; she couldn't stand the thought of losing him over something she couldn't fight.

"Yes, infact it was the one who went insane." Yoshumari replied with a sad, yet knowing smile.

"Don't worry, I won't be going insane. Remember, I'm weaker than I was before and there is no way that I'll ever be able to wield the same level of power again." He promised, stopping her in the middle of the street for a moment and kissing the very top of her forehead when he heard a livid scream coming from not too far away from them.

"WHY IS IT THAT SHE WAS KEPT ALIVE?!"

* * *

Firebolt casually strolled through the streets of Edelstien: The way the people were rallying together in preparation for an assault on Ereve was spirit lifting. But there were dark clouds surrounding and hanging in his own heart, especially concerning the way the human changing spell was being re-applied by Monsoon more and more often. He was down to having to reapply it every three days. This concerned him enough to seek out an answer from Patricia for an answer.

She may not have been as well versed in sacred spells as Helen or a Preist, but she was versed enough that she was able to give him the bad news about the spell that was losing its grip on him. As he looked around, he caught sight of Monsoon talking with some of the archers there, planning out strikes and attack patterns, zeroing in on her alone and just watching her as she talked. Had she been keeping this secret about the spell being tied to his life force for all this time? Chuckling to himself, he turned and began walking towards a back alley where he could be alone with his thoughts until Monsoon's voice broke his train of thought.

"Hey, there you are. I was wondering where you had gotten off to. How are you feeling?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me something Irena, how long have you known?" Firebolt asked locking eyes with her and letting her see the sadness and disappointment in them. Monsoon swallowed hard and faked the best chuckle and smile that she could.

"Known what? What are you talking…"

"Don't insult me Irena. How long have you known about my human holding spell being tied to my life force?" he asked, this time sounding more agitated. Monsoon still kept up the farce as best she could, losing her nerve with each passing second.

"What are you talking about? Rok only showed me the spell and how to reapply it…"

"IRENA!" Firebolt bellowed, electricity threading over his shoulders scaring Monsoon into silence, looking at him with wide and confused eyes: he had spoken to her with a loud tone before, but this was different, desperate almost. Monsoon sighed and closed her eyes, bowing her head as tears began forming in the corners.

"I've known ever since Rok showed me how to do the spell. He told me his mistake was not considering how many years you lived before he killed you or how many years you had been in the service of the Black Mage. That's why the spell was failing. The reapplication would simply strengthen the spell itself, reinforcing it with what little life force you have left." She sobbed, grabbing onto his cloak and pressing her forehead against his chest.

"Irena, why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep this secret from me?" he asked; yes he was furious that such a secret was kept from him, but at the same time he was also sad that she had to carry around such a heavy burden all on her own.

"I had told myself that as long as I had the spell that I could keep you alive, that you weren't really dying. I just didn't want your death to be real." She answered gripping his cloak all the harder until her hands hurt. Firebolt let out a sad breath and put his arms around her, holding her closer to him while he hushed her cries.

"Listen, I appreciate that you were trying to do, but this is my life we're talking about here. I don't want you to remember me as some mutant being that was slowly dying."

"But I don't have anyone left… I'd be all alone." She whimpered.

"What about your sister Chalis?" He asked. Monsoon stopped, thinking back to her younger sister and how she had abandoned her family as well, just as she did so many years ago.

"I've known you for as long as I can remember Irena, but if something like this is going to happen, it's going to happen. Just remember that there are other people around you waiting to pick you back up."

* * *

With some careful maneuvering, Orca managed to slip back into the mines, though having to remind herself that she no longer had her small child's body when she tried to fit in some small spaces to avoid the guards.

"_That's strange: why are there still armored patrols around this area? Besides my brother, what could possibly be down here that requires such a tight guard?_" she wondered, slipping past the many patrols when she passed by where her room used to be. With thick hesitation, she pushed open the door and silently walked in looking around at the destruction that now filled this room where she had battled her love Mercedes. The teddy bear that she treasured was still laying on the ground next to her couch, but one of the ears had been torn off and soot covered its face.

She picked it up and brushed off the blackened portion of the fabric and held it close, catching and ever so slight whiff of Mercedes perfume still lingering when her eye caught sight of a massive blood stain on the ground. It was hours before Hilla had come in to find her lying nearly lifeless on the ground bleeding out, but Orca was glad that she had come when she did. Shaking her head she propped the bear up in the corner of the couch, touching her lips with her fingers before touching the snout of the bear.

"_Goodbye Mercedes. I wish you well._" she thought, slipping out of her room once again to complete her mission of retrieving her brother. But as she got closer to where his tank was she missed the normal tingle in her mind from Suu's as she neared. Orca dismissed it as perhaps Suu's mind being asleep and was still too far out of his range while in that state. But as she neared and the tinge still didn't hit her, she began to worry. Running through the caves and dodging the many new piles of high end equipment blocking her path.

When she finally had come into the ire glow of the room where Suu still floated in the tank of suspension gel, she was shocked to see Gelimer messing with some sort of mechanism on the control board of his tank.

"Gelimer! What are you doing here?!" she asked reaching into her pocket for the vial of mana: Gelimer was the only other person that scared her as badly as The Mage himself, due only to his utter disregard for life of any kind in pursuit of his experiments. Looking closer at him, she noticed that his right arm appeared to be mechanical having split apart into many different arms holding different screens, plugged into the control computer.

"Orca! Zees eez quit zeh suprice! You look quite zeh ravising young latey." he said, trying to hide his arm behind him while moving over to hide a screen that seemed to be scrolling information across it.

"What are you doing to my brother?" she asked, wanting to activate an attack spell, but knowing that she only had a limited amount of mana, and her body no longer able to support Black Magic prevented her from doing so.

"Oh zis? I vas jus… puzting zeh final tocheez on a program to avaken him." he stumbled, as a multitude of clicks and servo whines could be heard behind him until he brought his hands forward, holding them for her to see with a defensive position.

"Awaken him? You mean he can come out of that thing?" Orca asked walking to the tank and pressing her hand to the glass, watching as Suu's hand twitched for a moment when her skin touched the glass.

"Yes, it vill only be a matta off momentz." He said. Orca looked almost longingly as he floated amid the gel, when Suu seemed to turn his head up and fix his gaze on her. It almost looked like he was trying to tell her something with that gaze, but in her enthrallment of having her brother back after so many centuries she didn't notice the dark grin that was playing across the scientist's face.

"Wait, what's that thing on the side of his head?" Orca asked when she saw a metallic disk on the side of his head with what appeared to be a blue dome filling the majority of the center.

"Zat eez a cognitive boosta, increasing heez brainz signal to da limbs. He haz been insite zat tank for so long, I feya zat his nerves have been slightly damaged." Gelimer answered, pressing a part of his wrist behind him, making the light come to life while Suu's body looked to stiffen.

"Do it." Orca commanded, stepping back as Gelimer moved in and began the draining sequence, pulling all of the gel out of the tank while gently setting Suu down in the corner of the tank and bottom grate, allowing him to cough up the remaining gel in his lungs. Shortly after the gel's draining, a lock sounded from below and the glass slid down giving Orca access to him, cradling him in her arms and wiping the gel from his face.

"Suu! Oh Suu, you don't know how much I've missed you all this time!" she cried happily, clearing a spot on his cheek and kissing it firmly, when Suu grabbed hold of her arm hard.

"Suu, what's wrong?" she asked, watching as what appeared to be binary code zipped across his pupils and the light on the side of his head blinked a few times before turning red.

"Run." He whispered, when all traces of his former self disappeared as his eyes became red, hauling on Orca's arm and hurling her across the room. Orca managed to correct, landing on the wall and dropping to the floor where she saw Suu hover into the air, his power emanating from his body in a cloud that first crushed, then shattered the control board of the tank he had just been in before rushing her. Orca managed to duck out of his first blow's path, but her now larger, older body made it impossible for her to avoid his second attack, slamming her against the wall with enough force that the wall behind her collapsed. Orca's arms buzzed and her shoulders hurt after having used half the mana she was given to create a small barrier to protect her, but now she had nothing left for any attack spells.

"_I have enough for a speed boosting spell; that should be enough for me to get out of here at least." _she thought initiating the spell and rocketing for the door, only to find herself face to face with Suu once again, disappearing to another part of the room when he tried to attack her again.

"Suu! What's wrong with you! It's me!" she shouted, dodging another blast of power he had launched with no emotion or even hint that he knew who she was. As Orca flitted from place to place to avoid being hit, she couldn't help but notice that Gelimer seemed to be typing something in on his arm as if he were controlling him.

"_Suu, my dear brother Suu. What has this horrible man done to you?_" she thought. But her thoughts distracted her from noticing her speed boosting spell had worn off and she no longer had any mana to use it again, leaving her wide open for an attack. Suu appeared to be charging a powerful spell, causing Orca to try and flit away where she noticed too late that her spell had worn off and was hit full force with the dark spell, coursing through her body like molten steel. Her screams echoed through the hollow caves in a shrill note that for a brief moment disrupted the hold Gelimer had over the boy, making him stop his assault. Ocra's body was bruised, burnt and bloody, falling to the ground writhing in pain as she forced herself to uncurl and look up into Suu's empty digital eyes.

"W-w-why..." she whispered, before passing out with her hand outstretched to him where he only stared down at her from where he floated.

"Heh, zat wass such a vaist of time: come my creation. Zees ees zeh time for a new era!" Gelimer chortled, pulling on a joystick and walking out of the cave, when he noticed that Suu wasn't following his commands, rather he appeared to be fighting them as his body shook.

"Vie do you rezeest? Come!" Gelimer commanded, pressing a few buttons on his arm to boost the signal and pulling harder on the joystick, but still Suu refused to do as he commanded.

"N-n…no…" Suu stuttered, sounding almost robotic.

"VAT! VIE DO YOU SPEAK?! OBEY ME!" Gelimer howled, pressing another set of buttons, again increasing the signal strength when he saw Suu grab his arm.

"No… I-I-I will not… f-f-f-follow you. My s-s-s-s-sister in hurt… she will d-d-d-die if she doesn't r-r-r-r-receive… medical attention." Suu struggled to say, turning back to Orca where she lay on the ground, slowly bleeding out.

"Vat concern eez she to you? She hass become part of zeh past…" Suu clenched down hard on the scientist's arm, pulling it behind him at a sharp angle.

"If you do not t-t-t-t-treat her, I will fight your control with every last ounce of my b-b-b-b-b-being until I am dead. However…" Suu released his arm and looked over to her, floating down to the ground and kneeling beside her, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.

"I-i-i-i-i-if you allow me to t-t-t-t-t-take her into Edelstein where she will be found by the High Guard for treatment, I will go with you without quarrel." Gelimer raised an eyebrow behind his thick glasses, scratching his head in some tufts of hair that remained on his head.

"Vie voodjue need to do somsing like zees? You have no neet of her any longer." Gelimer asked.

"She is my sister, not that you would understand." Suu hissed, his eyes snowing as if he were fighting to regain his own control once more. Gelimer thought about what he had said, thinking through his options and how hard it was to bring Suu under his control in the first place _without _him fighting. If he were to refuse, it could mean the loss to years of research to create the perfect indestructible body.

"Very vell, but be quick about it." Gelimer agreed, turning off the signal of his controller and watching every single move and step that Suu made in taking his sister's limp body back into the city, bending the barrier around him as he made his way to a back alley near the road and set her down, propped against a wall. With almost reluctant care, he brushed aside a few locks of her hair before kissing her forehead.

"_Suu_,_ vat ees taking you so long?_" Gelimer's impatient voice said though the link on the side of his head.

"I'm coming you old goat." He grumbled, standing and walking back the way he came, unaware that Orca had regained enough of her consciousness to see her brother walking away from her down a dark alley. Once outside, Suu and Gelimer began a trip towards The Black Mage's castle still standing on the plains north of Edelstein.

"I'm surprised no one has come to tear this place down yet." Suu commented, but was met with only silence as he and Gelimer walked to the back of the castle where an intricate and highly sophisticated locked door stood, clanking and whining as Gelimer neared then opening as an iris allowed both of them in. Inside were dozens of what appeared to be mechanical skeletons, some in varying stages of being fitted with various human organs or mechanical parts.

"What is this place?" Suu asked, suddenly not so sure that he wanted to keep the promise he made.

"Zees ees my personal lab where I have been gratually making progress in creating not only a body for myself, but is also creating zeh ultimate vepon!" Gelimer shouted, pulling aside a cutain to reveal schematics and plans of a cybernetic humanoid soldier.

"Zeh tests haven't been going so vell now zat I don't have a vast supply of volunteers zeh Black Vings providet, but I have made quite a lot of progress even wissout zere help. Beryl! Are you zere?" Gelimer called. Somewhere in the dark of the lab, a set of blue eyes opened and a young woman walked into the light wearing a black a white battle suit and armor. Her hair was cut short, offset by the ponytail hair hanging at the back, thick blue circuits on her cheeks rose to below her eyes with a modern angled scythe strapped to her back.

"Yes, I am here." She answered in a monotone, slightly metallic sounding voice.

"Oh teer, zees vill not do: your voice madulator ees out of alignment again and your personality program ees not booting up. I vill attend to it once you haf escorted zees newest recruit to his bay." Gelimer announced, grabbing his own forearm and twisting it off before plugging it in to a dock of sorts where data began streaming across screens.

"Yes commander Gelimer." She said, taking Suu's arm with a surprisingly hard grip and leading him down a dark hallway.

"What are you?" Suu asked, looking around them and seeing a few suspension tanks glowing a discomforting blood red color.

"I am serial number 29573, model name Beryl, a cyborg created by commander Gelimer, Leader of the Black Wings." She said, roughly pushing him into what appeared to be a cell and closing the door hard before walking away.

"Wait! Why am I here?" Suu asked, his only response being that of hearing her footsteps fade into the distance.

"He got you too huh?" a voice asked making Suu look around until he saw what appeared to be a teenager's body suspended in a tank of red goo with both mechanical and organic body parts floating around him, and his chest opened so that Suu could see his lungs and a partially mechanical heart.

"What happened to you?" Suu asked, wanting to look away from the sight before him, but too enthralled to do so.

"I don't know. There is very little of me left, I don't even remember my own name. What I do know is that I'm a test tube, supposed to become his ultimate weapon, a commander to an army of cyborg soldiers and a base for him to create his own indestructible body." the boy replied, lifting his head and making eye contact.

"Then why was I brought here?" Suu asked, becoming desperate as the information became more and more sinister.

"That thing on the side of your head is so that Gelimer can break you. He wants to find out how to gain full control over a cyborg so that it will do what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. The poor bastard can't learn magic of any kind to gain the same level of command as The Black Mage, so he'll do it by force. Hundreds have died while he experimented and you are just one of them. Once he finds out how to gain full control, he'll then use that research on me and create the perfect soldier." Suu let out defeated breath and hung his head. He knew now that he would never be able to see his sister again, even if being an elf allowed her to live for centuries, he himself would never see her again.

"_Orchid, Forgive me._"

* * *

"WHAT?!" Claudine shouted, uncrossing her arms and taking a more aggressive stance in response to Hilla saying The Black Mage was the one in control of Clytemnestra.

"That can't be: The Black Mage himself was defeated 18 years ago." Cygnus stated, her demeanor becoming worried as the reality that something like this could really have happened.

"What was destroyed all those years ago was what remained of his body. His spirit however is much harder to kill. When Project End Game was still in its infancy, The Black Mage instructed me to create a Spirit Anchor, a place where once could gather their life force, memories, and a bit of power for later on a giant underground door. Once this anchor was created, he then told me that if he were ever defeated to go there one year after his defeat." Hilla held up her hand, summoning a black flame to dance within her palm, remembering when she had actually set up that anchor.

"After that year was over, Arkarium, Magnus and I returned to that underground door and opened it to find Clytemnestra and her knights. Apparently it took an entire year for The Black Mage to gather all of himself to that one spot, and once we opened the door, it allowed him in to take control of her body." Claudine pinched the bridge of her nose while the soldiers that had gathered around all of them hung their heads.

"You mean to tell me that so many lives were lost for nothing?" Claudine asked, flinching a bit when a still fresh wound ached.

"That you'll have to find out for yourselves; however, this body that he is using has a major flaw within it. The apparatus that hangs behind her is the source of her power. The Black Mage created Clytemnestra's Apparatus, putting some of his power in it every day until it housed quite a bit of power, but still far less than the Black Mage commanded. If that apparatus is destroyed, every bit of Black Magic she currently controls will be lost and there would be nothing to keep The Black Mage within her body." Hilla explained.

"Then, the only things standing in our way are the Chaos beasts." Cygnus said excitedly when she was abruptly brought down from her high by Hilla's chuckle.

"That isn't your only problem. There are still the shadow knights and they are just as powerful as The Empress's true knights, having all the battle potential as they do, but with the addition of Black Magic at their disposal and their lack of sympathy. You must defeat them first, and then you may have a shot at Clytemnestra herself." Hilla scolded, trying to tell them that their fight was futile at best. It would only be a matter of time until the World Cannon was working again and then would eradicate them all, having to stop and think: was she actually trying to protect these people? Was she worried over them, when they were the very ones trying to kill her? Her thoughts were interrupted when someone else walked up to her, having heard the last part of her little speech and set a foot on the side of her bed, rocking it slightly as the strong looking man pointed his thumb to himself.

"You have no idea how strong we really are. Back then, we were just trying to use whatever strength we could find. We've had 18 years to refine and build that strength, and there's nothing, and I mean nothing will stand in our way!"

"You don't get it: They will destroy you if the Choas beasts don't do that first!" Hilla scolded. The man was about to reply when a loud voice cut them all off to see Dureau standing in the doorway, face bright red and Agies smoldering on his shoulders into the air.

"WHY IS IT THAT SHE WAS KEPT ALIVE?!" he shrieked, grabbing his mace and preparing to attack when Mastema ran in front of him, holding him back with all her strength which still wasn't enough.

"Dureau stop!"

"NO! SHE AND THE OTHERS ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR…" The air was split by a loud, high pitched crack as Mastema slapped Dureau as hard as she could leaving everyone in stunned silence for a long while as Dureau simply stayed looking away from her.

"You don't need to avenge them anymore! I thought you'd have moved past this by now." Mastema reasoned, but was quickly sorry she had laid a hand on him when he turned his livid eyes to her, part of his face having transformed to his full demon state. Grabbing her by the neck, Dureau picked her up and moved her to the side as he walked towards Hilla once more.

"You are just as guilty as Arkarium you painted wench!" Dureau drew back his arm, Agies flaring to life around it as a giant scythe came swinging down, whistling as he swung but stopping when Cygnus stepped into his path, power swelling from her body and calming Dureau's rage somewhat. Hold up her hand, she then enveloped him with a glow.

"You will not harm Hilla in any way. Doing so would mean your own death. She has surrendered herself to a life of repentance and atonement, and for you to take this into your own hands would be unforgivable." Cygnus said with a stern tone, matching Dureau's own intense stare.

"You're protecting her?!" he seethed, dispelling his scythe.

"I am." Cygnus replied flatly. Dureau's rage and confusion only boiled as he was caught between wanting revenge for his family and preserving his own life. Finally, Dureau lowered his head, looking back at Hilla over Cygnus's shoulder and agreed to the terms provided him, leaving with the others from the room.

"How many of the High Guard remain Claudine?" Cygnus asked.

"There are 600 of my soldiers left, all classes."

"Rally all of them and meet me at the east end of town. I will go and get the Heroes, The Guardians, and whatever adventurers we have left to mount an attack on Ereve now that we have this new information. Dureau, we could use your strength." Dureau looked back to Cygnus, still simmering in rage.

"Fine, at least I'll be able to direct my rage somewhere." He huffed. Hilla sighed in slight relief when she looked up to see Mastema standing beside her bed, clenching her hand and rubbing her throat.

"Cygnus may have prevented Dureau from doing anything to you, but if you do anything to him, a swear with every last bit of breath that remains in my body that I will kill you." she hissed, laying her ears back and baring her teeth to her.

"I wouldn't expect you to do any less Mastema; you are in love with him after all." Hilla smiled, making Mastema's cheeks flare bright red before she turned and left the room. Closing her eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief, when a quiet whisper began to surround her, fading in and out of audible range until it startled her with one loud push.

"_Hilla!"_ Her eyes remained wide as she looked around, not seeing anyone there but hearing the whisper surrounding her from all sides.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" She called, summoning a black flame to her hand, but knowing that it probably would do little good since most of her power was gone after her defeat in Azwan.

"_Do you not recognize the voice of your own master?"_ the whisper asked making her dispel the flame and swallow hard.

"I've done as you commanded: I've gotten them to attack Ereve." Hilla answered to the air, though it held a sense of foreboding.

"_Yes, but in doing so you revealed my secrets._" The voice hissed as Hilla's eye became wide a fearful.

"Master, I did what I thought was needed in order to get them to attack all the sooner!"

_"And a valiant attempt it was. I told you that I would overlook your being captured if you gently pushed them to attack. And you already know the punishment for capture. But you have gone beyond that."_

"Master Please! I did what…"

"_You revealed sensitive information to them! The price for Capture and betrayal are the same, and I have no more use for you.?_"

"Master!" Hilla called, trying to conjure some kind of barrier to protect herself when something surrounded her in bright sacred light, making the whisper yelp in pain and fade away while what appeared to be shards of black glass fell to the ground and dissipated all around Hilla's bed.

"Art though injured Hilla?" Helen called, lowering her hand as the barrier winked out around her.

"You… how did you…"

"Didst thou believe thine ears are the only ones to hear his whispers?" She asked, coming into the room with Olsen right behind her, already holding his dagger with a reverse hold.

"You can hear him?" Hilla asked with surprise.

"I hath been tainted by Black Magic, or hast thou forgotten?" Helen asked, an edge in her voice. Hilla nodded as she thought back to the days when Helen was walking amongst the Black Wings as an annoyingly over confident addition.

"Why haven't you rid yourself of it yet?"

"I cannot. And for that, 'tis a constant war to ensure I doth not lay-to it, yea at its bidding. Some days 'tis easy, others it is likened unto fighting Hades itself." Helen replied, looking back to Olsen who put a hand on her shoulder.

"I can remove it for you." Hilla offered, throwing the covers aside and beginning to stand.

"Thou art still considered a threat against us Hilla, and thou cannot change thy path so easily." Helen reproached, taking a step back as Olsen moved in front, ready to attack.

"I know you don't trust me, and I would be lying if I said that I don't believe you: I have not only been given a second chance by the new goddess Cygnus, but I have also had my life saved by you. My life is forfeit if I don't live one of atonement, so let me start with you." Hilla said, almost seeming to beg for a chance to prove she was willing to atone for what she had done in the past.

"Just bare to thy mind, Olsen's blade is much swifter than thou can imagine." Helen warned.

"I know." Hilla said, holding her hand forward as she began the ceremony.

* * *

"…And once we have neutralized the Chaos beasts, I want part of the adventurers led by phantom to surround the Shadow Knights from the west. Mercedes and Luminous will close off their escape to the north with my Knights, and the High Guard pushing through the middle in hopes that we can get to Clytemnestra herself. Are there any other questions?" Cygnus asked, standing atop a large platform while showing a battle plan in mid air while using Phantom's holographic projectors. When everyone seemed to be shaking their heads and understanding what the plan was, Cygnus held her hands wide as a strange power felt to be sweeping over them.

"I send you off with a blessing of my own. Now, ONWARD TO VOCTORY!" she shouted, the crowd shouting to her in response as each of the mech pilots ran to their mechs and started them up, the battle mages clipping potions to their belts and the Hunters checking their supply of bolts and Arrow Turrets. The Heroes and Guardians checked their weapons and armor, then took the front of the army that had gathered, moving onto a massive transport ship Checky and Abi had built through the 18 peaceful years.

Mercedes was just setting foot onto the loading ramp when she thought she heard something off to the side. She stopped and turned her head to listen closer, but didn't hear anything at first. As she turned to leave again, she heard the same noise only this time, it sounded weaker.

"Mercedes, are you coming?" Phantom asked

"Hush, don't you hear that?" She stated, walking towards one of the alleys leading to the back of the town where she had heard the noise coming from. As she got closer, it sounded more like someone whimpering, silently crying in pain.

"Help, someone, anyone… help…" the voice said. Mercedes drew her bowguns, readying for whatever was around the corner. Standing with her back against the wall, taking a breath and holding her guns up before spinning out and taking aim down the alley when she saw what appeared to be a teen sitting against a wall. Her was skin badly burned and some cuts across her face and arms had dried blood all around them. The girl struggled to pick her head up, looking directly at Mercedes with a look of someone near death. For a moment, Mercedes didn't do anything, studying the features of the girl, looking past her more mature body and recognizing her long lost friends and enemy.

"Orchid! What happened to you?!" She shouted, dropping her guns and rushing to her side, immediately applying a simple healing spell to a wound that looked to be the worst.

"Suu, he's…"

"Never mind Orchid don't talk, we'll get you some help. Someone! Anyone! I need some help over here!" Mercedes called. Orchid felt herself lowered onto a stretcher, the pain coursing through her body making her numb to any new pain that was put on her body. She was only vaguely aware of what was happening to her as she felt herself moved to another soft platform when a dull sting was being spread across her skin.

"Will she be alright?" Mercedes asked, watching as a high level priest began healing some of her major wounds, checking through her body for any internal injuries.

"There's no way to tell. She's already so near death that she might not survive the healing." A nurse said. Mercedes forwarded a message to the others that she would join them as soon as she was sure that Orchid was stable and would survive.

* * *

Monsoon, now calling herself Irena once more boarded the ship, looking around at everyone that had gathered: some of them look nervous while others looked excited at the chance to be included in this decisive battle. As her eyes scanned the crowd, she spotted Hawkeye and pushed her way through the people as fast as she could before clubbing him as hard as she could.

"What are you doing here?! I thought I told you to stay behind for this fight!" Irena shouted, almost sounding as if her voice were cracking. Hawkeye stood once again, wiping his lip before putting an arm around her and pulling her close.

"Listen Irena, I know that you think that you are preventing the inevitable, but my death is getting closer and closer and there is nothing that you can do about it. I want to at least be able to do something worthwhile before my end." Irena closed her eyes and gripped his shirt as hard as she could,

"But you just might die for sure that way!" she shouted, making the others around her look back to her and realize their own fate that may lie ahead.

"Irena, I told you once; it's my life, and I want to do one last thing for people to remember me by before my life gives out completely."

* * *

Clytemnestra stepped out onto one of the many balconies on the Ereve Castle, looking to the west with proud anticipation: the World Cannon was almost back online and every last survivor that hadn't been eradicated was stashed away in that one city. However as she stared off into the distance, the winds that blew her long platinum hair smelled of hot metal and sweat. Narrowing her eyes she activated an Eye of Arrows, amplifying her distance vision allowing her to see the force that was almost to the coast of Ossyria.

"I see: The clouds of war are gathering to the west." She muttered to herself, grinning and holding her arms wide.

"Then let it rain."

* * *

"Red unit in position." Abi called over her com, looking back to the other behind her who nodded their ready.

"_Blue unit, in position."_

_"Black Unit, 5 seconds out."_

_"White unit, in position."_

_"Green unit, ready."_

_"Yellow Unit in place."_

_"Sniper Platoon, ready."_

"Blue leader, were you able to get the second heavy ready?" Abi asked, making one final systems check before attempting to go out from her hiding place.

"_I was, but because of its size it'll be another five minutes before it gets here. The SG-88's are above us right now though, one for each mech here._" Checky answered, no doubt doing a final systems check himself.

"All units, this is Goddess; make what preparations you need, we begin in 30 seconds."

"_This is sniper unit, I have a clear shot on Clytemnestra, do we proceed?"_

"This is Goddess; negative. She requires a different approach. Concentrate your fire on the Shadow Knights and the Chaos beasts." A swirl of winds and bursts of mana flared around every single person as spells, abilities and weapons were readied standing ready in anticipation for the word.

"3… 2… 1… GO!" Almost before the word had left Cygnus' mouth, all the foot soldiers began to move through the courtyard of Ereve, silently creeping through the grass to hear anything that would come at them when a great shadow passed over head.

"What was that?" a ninja asked to Jack, looking around for whatever could have made the shadow.

"Trouble." Jack replied, clenching his fist when he turned and grabbed the ninja, diving away from where Zakeros came crashing down on them, laughing in a chorus of voices.

"What made you think that you could so easily come here?" he asked, fire already brewing in the throats of four heads.

"YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT!" a battle mage shouted, quickly being detoured when Baroq, Skeleth, and Pink Bean renamed Archen all landed in the courtyard. A dense air began filling the walls, breaking down the soldiers will to fight when Dureau shot through the ranks, slamming into Skeleth hard enough that part of his chest caved under the weight of the hit. That hit alone broke the hold the other three had over the soldiers. Zakeros turned from seeing Skeleth injured, spewing a wall of flames in return, obliterating the few soldiers that were too far forward for Vondra to protect from the flames.

With a sweep of her hand, she, Olsen and the remaining ninja cracked a vial of poison over their weapons, charging the beasts in blurs of color, focusing their attacks on Archen. Matthew and Jack along with Dumia, Patricia, the Battle Mages and Mecha pilots focused their attention on Zekeros. Dureau drew the attention of Phantom leading the archers, and a few elemental mages against Skeleth. Baroq stood with an almost disappointed look on his face that no one was coming after him when a searing pain grazed his head.

"Don't worry demon, we haven't forgotten about you." Luminous said with a dark grin, he and the Empress Knights charging for him. Both Mihile and Luminous unleashed a bright attack, slamming Baroq back when he crossed his arms to block it. Hawkeye and Oz both charged after him, first Oz lighting his fur ablaze, followed by Hawkeye hitting him hard in the chest, thunder rolling through the hills for a long time after.

Luminous teleported to the ground running, light blazing on his staff while Mihile and the other knights followed after him. Plumes of flames thundered over their heads from the Blaze Wizards which was caught by Irena and the Wind Archers, using their winds to engulf Baroq in a funnel of flames. Luminous right eye became dark as he reached for his shadow magic, hurling his great sphere of energy into the swirling inferno making Baroq howl in pain. Luminous was about to charge forward when Eckhart appeared before him, stopping him.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" He shouted, when Zakeros could be seen flying through the air, colliding with Baroq and igniting both of their skins.

"That is what I wanted you to wait for." Luminous huffed his thanks as Zakeros kicked off Baroq, clawing and digging his way back to the ones he had been battling. All of his heads slung forward and a wall of flames burst from them, tuning the ground before him into glass. Jack reached back for his pistols, arms glowing bright red as he pulled the triggers making an icy hurricane force wind erupt from them. The two forces met with a loud blast of thunder and steam, dissipating the flames.

Zakeros, hauled his heads back into the air, readying to breathe another wall of fire when large shadows passed over him, making him swallow the fire in his throat, hearing loud metallic crashes behind the wall of steam. Clanks and clicks echoed from the other side making Zakeros turn his heads in wonder, trying to figure out what could be coming. Then, all sound ceased from the other side of the cloud for a brief time until a bank of missiles punched through the cloud and slammed into Zakeros body, hurling him back again. All the Mecha Pilots rolled through the cloud strapped to the SG-88 armor, taking aim as Zakeros once more and firing their cannons as he charged.

Just as Zakeros charged, a sheet of ice raced across the ground followed by Skeleth being thrown through spears of ice that had grown from the ground. Dureau shot into the air high above the Hydra before beating his wings hard and driving the top of his mace into his gut. Black power shot through his decomposing body into the ground where black spires shot up, ripping even more flesh from Skeleth's body.

Something made the hairs on the back of Dueau's neck stand on end, leaping out of the way as Genesis Light beams pummeled Skeleth hard, pushing him into the soft earth below. As soon as the light ceased, enormous pillars or violet colored ice charged from the ground, wrapping around Skeleth's body and holding him down. Dureau looked back to see Helen standing at the entrance of the castle with Hilla crouched beside her.

"You would think that someone with such a high level sacred abilities would be a little more carful where she aims her beams!" one of the elemental mages shouted and she and few other were readying a powerful, multi mage fire spell.

"You would think that someone who just saved your sorry butt would be…"

"Calm thy spirit Hilla, for we are still within the heat of battle." Helen answered, putting and arm under her to help her to her feet, teleporting away to another location. Phantom took the opportunity given to them by Helen, drawing a card and hurling it forward as a giant knight brought his sword down hard on Skeleth, splitting him in half. Dureau felt something begin to emanate from the body. He began streaking around where all the mages and Phantom were, pulling them to a safe distance when beams of black shot into the air like a mushroom cloud.

"What was that?!" Phantom asked, watching as the cloud grew over the skies and darkened the area to twilight.

"It was evil, that's all I know what to call it." Dureau replied. Across the way he could see Luminous battling against Baroq, pummeling him with bolts of light, followed by blades of light, fire, shadows, lightning and winds. Baroq swung his arm through the ground, sweeping a dozen of the Empress' Knight's students away. He was bringing his arm down again, when Mihile streaked through the air, bringing his sword down hard and cutting through his thick forearm. Baroq howled, sweeping his remaining good arm at him only to have that one blow off in a blaze of flames by Oz and her students.

Black ooze dropped to the ground in rivers as he stood for a moment to regain his composure when Hawkeye bolted through the front line. His body partially changed into the creature that he was, slamming his fist hard enough into the giant that it sounded like thunder. Baroq tried to correct his fall by beating his wings as hard as he could, but that was soon met by him seeing Luminous falling onto him with a giant black and white sword. It drove through his head and was pushed down to his neck before lopping off his head. Dureau felt the same great evil begin to emanate from Baroq as had Skeleth as soon as he had finished with the move.

"LUMINOUS! GET EVERYONE AWAY FROM…" But by the time Luminous heard him calling, it was too late: Baroq's body began seeping black something into the air. Luminous slammed the end of his staff down, creating a bubble shield around Baroq's body, but the evil that was coming from it was more than he could handle. He struggled to keep it within his barrier when it suddenly became easier.

"What… are you… doing?! Get going!" a straining voice said. Without further question, he and those around him ran as fast as they could away. When Luminous turned around to see who it was that had told him to get going, he could see Hilla and Helen both trying to contain the evil that was leaking from his body. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of hard battle going on, seeing the giant SG-88 Mecha fighting against Zekeros. Their giant fists slammed into each head that came to them, batting them away giving the battle mages and Jack the room needed to pummel his body. Then with a hard roll of thunder, two of the Mecha slammed their fists into Zekeros body and sent him flying through the air towards where Helen and Hilla who were still trying to contain and diffuse the power.

Luminous leaned into his run teleporting to where they stood, then teleporting them away just and Zekeros body came crashing down onto Baroq and the power within him erupted forth. Zekeros could be heard howling as beams of black shot through his body, melting his very bones as they shot into the sky. The cloud then doubled as Zekeros own body erupted into a black cloud, darkening the skies to near nighttime.

Archen doubled over for a moment when Olsen and Vondra both crossed his path and split his rotting skin. Olsen's students hurled huge shuriken at him, slamming into his body with enough force to drive him back. With a look of hatred, his eyes he spread his tiny fat arms wide as most of the wounds on his body quickly healed. A student rushed forward, drawing his kunai as he flashed by only to tumble to a stop, finding that his side was cut open and bleeding badly.

"What happened?!" another student asked when Archen held up his hand towards another one, instantly making him stand to a stiff attention then awkwardly draw his dagger and rush towards the first student.

"INCOMING!" the student yelled, giving the first student enough time to roll out of the way just in time.

"Skeleth, Zekeros and Baroq may have been fools enough to let themselves be defeated for a third time, but I will not be so foolish!" Archen squeaked, throwing his hand towards another group, instantly putting them into a stiff attention position.

"I will survive! I will be the one to ensure that…" in flash of red light, something darted past Archen, splitting his side and spewing his soupy and rotting innards to the ground. Archen looked to his side in surprise, releasing his hold on the students. Flashes of green light speared through his body and exploded on contact with the ground sending him flipping through the sky. A streak of red light flashed over him, forcing him back to the ground with a roll of thunder, when a huge beam of hot violet energy pummeled him from the skies.

Finally, a streak of hot pink shot past his sizzling body and cut him completely through until Lillianne could be seen jumping through the air and bringing her axe down hard. Ice erupted all around, encasing his body just as the energy within him began to erupt, caught in the ice as it expanded.

"That's just what I would expect from The Guardians." Vondra said, tending to the wounds of the student who had his attack reflected back at him. Checky walked forward, opening the canopy to his mech as he spun down the SG-88 it was attached to.

"Alright, listen up. We can't stop here; those of you that are injured or don't have enough mana to continue, stay just outside the courtyard of the castle. Those of you that aren't wounded but are low on or have no mana left, please help those that are wounded, rest and replenish your mana. We may need you later. Those of you that are still fine with going on in battle, assemble on me and prepare to move forward." He called. Their force of soldiers was reduced by a quarter, most of them with minor injuries or out of mana. Cygnus walked through the crowd, touching some of those that refused to have their minor injuries treated and healed them.

"What's the status Checky?"

"Those of us that you see here are ready to move forward." Checky announced as Cygnus turned to the group and nodded.

"Regroup and be ready to move out in 1 minute." She called, as the bustle of preparation surrounded her calmed her nerves, relieved that there were no deaths as of yet. Though that could very well change as they moved on.

* * *

Clytemnestra passed her hand over her mirror and dismissed the image of the battle she had watched going on in the courtyard.

"Master, what shall we do now that the Chaos Beasts have been destroyed?" Irena asked, turning back to the other knights as they came into the room.

"You shall be the next line of defense. Keep them away from the world cannon at all costs. It is almost ready to fire once more." She commanded as the knights bowed and turned to leave the room. She turned back to the mirror once again, feeling a waiver of her grip on the real Clytemnestra within her mind.

"_No, you can't come out yet._" she thought, smiling to herself as she walked to the balcony and watched the soldiers slowly moving forward.


End file.
